This year, the Ricoh-owned Pentax brand discontinued its longstanding K series to focus on a future DSLR launch. But even without the DSLR, Ricoh’s camera sales are booming. In an earnings report from November 06, Ricoh said that the GR series of compact cameras is so popular that sales and earnings jumped dramatically.
Cameras are only a small slice of Ricoh’s business – so small, in fact, that cameras are delegated under “other” on the financial reports, along with 360 cameras, environment and healthcare products.
But this “other” segment has increased sales by 20 percent in the first half of the year compared to last year’s numbers. While cameras are lumped in with several other categories, the report specifically calls out cameras as driving the increase in sales.
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Those numbers continue an upward trend, as Ricoh’s 2025 full-year report also called out the GR series for a strong increase in sales.
Earlier this year, Pentax discontinued the last DSLR in the K series, a move that the company says will allow it to develop “a new series of digital SLR cameras based on an entirely new concept.”
Amid discontinuing the Pentax K-series DSLR, Ricoh is still posting strong sales for its cameras – though that’s not exactly surprising amid the decline in DSLR sales and the rise in popularity of compact cameras.
The Ricoh GR IV series looks like a basic pocketable point-and-shoot, but hides an oversized APS-C sensor and bright lens. The series also has a dedicated Monochrome version, and Ricoh is working to launch a longer-lens GR IVx version as well.
Outside of the strong camera sales, Ricoh fans may want to note another statement from the company’s latest financial report: The impact of higher fuel costs and the higher cost of memory components.
Discussing the business as a whole – and not necessarily cameras specifically – the company told investors that pricing adjustments may help the company navigate those increased costs.
“At the same time,” the report reads, “we will mitigate cost increases stemming from rising prices of semiconductor memory, petroleum-related materials, and other inputs through pricing measures and reviews of our cost structure.”
That echoes concerns from other major camera makers over the rising cost and limited availability of memory components. Other brands, including Canon, Nikon, and Fujifilm, have also mentioned the possibility of price adjustments amid the rising costs.
On a more positive note, Ricoh did say that it had “secured sufficient supplies in semiconductor devices.”
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Compare the differences in Ricoh’s current GR series models.
