Canon Confirms Camera Price Increases From 2027 as Costs Bite

Canon will raise prices starting in 2027 to offset rising component and material costs, the company told analysts in the Q&A following its July–September 2026 third-quarter results. The announcement, first reported by Japanese publication Digital Camera Life on Nov. 3, 2026, signals another round of price pressure on cameras and lenses for working photographers.

What did Canon actually say?

Asked how it plans to handle expected cost increases caused by material shortages in 2027, Canon said it is already taking measures to secure the component quantities it needs for the next fiscal year. Higher costs are still anticipated. The company stated it would absorb those increases by raising prices "from next year onward," while weighing the effects of lower sales volumes and the balance between revenue and expenses when deciding on future adjustments.

This is not a new playbook. Canon noted it has already been adjusting prices to account for rising costs and will continue making decisions with a longer-term view.

How bad is the margin damage?

The numbers behind the decision are concrete. In response to a question about its fourth-quarter operating profit margin forecast, Canon said its margin had deteriorated by approximately five percentage points. That is a substantial hit for a business segment that runs on hardware volume. The company attributed the decline partly to the situation in the Middle East and to increased costs from higher memory prices.

Crucially, Canon said it has not yet fully passed these additional expenses on to customers through product prices. If the trend continues into 2027, the company said it would steadily increase prices to absorb the costs. Canon separately flagged memory and raw material prices remaining high as negative factors in its 2027 outlook, with these expenses expected to have a full-year impact.

Which businesses are affected?

The cost pressure extends beyond cameras:

• Shortages of circuit boards and electronic components have affected Canon's printing and imaging businesses, though proactive measures mean no major impact so far.
• The medical business suffered procurement delays after operational disruptions from a production system update in April, limiting Canon's ability to order the quantities it needed.
• Canon expects production normalization and business recovery in the medical segment to contribute positively to 2027 performance.

What does this change for photographers and buyers?

Canon has not specified which products will receive price increases, how much prices could rise, or when individual adjustments take effect. Its comments do not establish that every camera and lens will become more expensive. Buyers should treat this as directional guidance, not a published price list.

For studios and independent photographers budgeting Canon bodies or glass for 2027 projects, the practical implication is timing: purchases made before adjustments land could cost meaningfully less than identical gear afterward. Procurement teams locking multi-year gear budgets should build in headroom for increases rather than assuming current street prices hold.

The open question is how much of the industry's rising production cost reaches customers. Canon's Q&A shows one major manufacturer has decided that pass-through, at least in part, is now its stated policy.