TOKYO - For years, Japan's Fujifilm pivoted away from its legacy camera business to focus on healthcare. But thanks in large part to the TikTok crowd, its retro-themed X100 digital cameras are a now a roaring success, boosting its bottom line.
Founded 90 years ago, Fujifilm competed against film industry leader Kodak for decades before finally overtaking it in sales in 2001. But the triumph proved short-lived, as the film industry soon collapsed and digital cameras became a standard feature in mobile phones. "The look of it was pretty revolutionary, which is ironic, because it's just mimicking a film camera," said Mark Condon, founder of the camera equipment site Shotkit.
As travel restarted after the pandemic, demand for cameras shot up, and influencers on Instagram, TikTok and other social media sites turned the X100 into a status symbol. But the long waitlists and steep prices may drive customers to competitors, such as Canon's G7X and Ricoh's GR series, influencer Lee said. This week, Ricoh also announced the launch of its first film camera in about 20 years, the Pentax 17.