Samsung quits the camera business in Australia as smartphones rule the world

IT’S bad news for fans of Samsung’s latest must-have gadgets: the South Korean technology giant is quitting a key Australian market.

SAMSUNG might be winning the phone race but it is admitting defeat in digital cameras.

The world’s leading smartphone maker is all but quitting the camera business in Australia, confirming to News Corp that it will “reduce its focus” on imaging technology due to falling digital camera sales.

The news comes just months after the South Korean technology giant pulled out of the British market, citing consumers’ “gradual and sustained decline in demand for stand-alone digital cameras and camcorders.”

Ironically, the drop in camera sales is likely due to the success and improved photo quality of its own smartphones.

Samsung Electronics Australia confirmed reports of an imaging exodus in a statement, saying it had reassessed its involvement in the Australian photography market.

“Due to changing market conditions, Samsung will reduce its focus on sales and marketing for its range of digital imaging products in this country,” the statement said.

Despite the retreat, Samsung said it would “continue to honour its agreements regarding all products we supply to Australians”.

Samsung Australia’s digital imaging manager, ex-Nikon manager Craig Gillespie, quietly left the company last month, and many leading camera companies and electronics retailers have already stopped stocking the company’s cameras.

Samsung's Gear VR headset will deliver virtual reality games and films using one of the company's four latest phones.

Only a handful of stores still sell the company’s last major release, the NX500 launched in March last year, and its flagship NX1 camera and lenses.

The one exception to Samsung’s digital camera exit, however, is likely to be its Gear 360 Cam.

The spherical, 360-degree camera unveiled at Mobile World Congress in February is likely to be released in Australia later this year and will work with smartphones to create virtual reality experiences.

It is a challenging time for digital camera sales overall, however, with industry body CIPA showing worldwide camera shipments fell 14 per cent in March this year compared to last year, and were down 33.7 per cent compared to the year before that.

Only high-end cameras with interchangeable lenses were showing growth, up 16 per cent in March compared to the same time in 2015.