According to Fujirumors, Fujifilm is likely to raise the price by about 10% on most of their cameras and lenses beginning August 1st, which is Friday. It’s unclear if this is worldwide or just in America, but my suspicion is that it will just be in America, and is related to the tariffs. I also highly doubt that the X half and X-E5 will be affected, because the increase was already built into their MSRP.
Every major camera maker has either already increased their prices, or has announced that they will be soon—or both (already raised prices, but further price increases are forthcoming). While the X half and X-E5 were on the leading edge of the increase (and both were criticized for it), Fujifilm has largely delayed price increases on everything else. My guess is, with the Japan trade deal finalized, Fujifilm has something stable to determine what the increase should be, so that’s why it’s been delayed until now. I also suspect that Fujifilm will try to manufacture more of their U.S.-bound units in Japan instead of China, something they’ve already begun doing.
It’s also possible that this will be the first in a series of price increases. If Fujifilm were to raise the cost by (say) 20% all at once, that could scare off potential customers; however, by increasing it by “only” 10% now and another 10% later (perhaps on January 1st), it allows customers to acclimate more gradually to the higher prices. It’s like the frog in boiling water thing. Hopefully, though, this will be the one-and-only increase; if it is worldwide and not limited to America, I think that could possibly be an indication of it being only a one-time thing. It’s all just speculation at this point, and time will eventually tell—until then, take it all with a very large grain of salt.
Of course some will say that this is just Fujifilm being greedy or that Fujifilm has lost the plot and is out-of-touch with their customers. That’s all nonsense, spoken largely by trolls and click-bait content creators. Every camera maker is dealing with this same issue right now, and they are all raising their prices (RED is the only camera made in America as far as I’m aware, but I’m not sure how long that will last since they’ve been purchased by Nikon). I said back when the X half was announced that it was a foreshadowing of future price increases. When everyone complained about the cost, I said in time it would seem pretty normal, once the MSRP of everything else goes up. Now they’re going up. My suspicion is that we’re still five or six months out from all the dust settling, and it’s even possible that the X half and X-E5 could see a small price reduction at some point (since they were announced when there was a lot more uncertainty), who knows?
All of that is to say, if you’ve been eyeing a certain camera or lens, you might want to get your order in now and not wait until the price goes up later this week. If you delay, you may have to pay about 10% more. This is probably just for those in America, although I’m not 100% sure, and worldwide price increases are certainly a possibility, albeit a fairly slim possibility in my estimation.
My fear is that the rest of the world will see prices rise to subsidise USA sales if Fuji don’t increase by the full tariff %
I can see that as a possibility, just because they might wish to avoid raising prices too much in America, which is a huge market for them, because a slump in sales in the U.S. could be quite significant to the bottom line. However, I don’t think the odds are very large that they will do that, I see it as fairly unlikely.
Time to get in on the preorder for the XF23mm. Thanks for the heads up!
You are welcome. The new 23mm f/2.8 pancake is quite nice.
So far so good on the Canadian side. I pre ordered an X-E5 7 have the invoice long before politics got involved, so we could be tariff free up to this point.
Canada does not have any tariffs on China or Japan for electronics as far as I’m aware.
In all likelihood US only.
However what is clear is that this is retailers increasing prices, not Fuji (or other manufacturers per se). Fuji doesn’t need to increase its prices for the 10, 20 whatever % maga-tax follows a bad Big Mac and sugar cane coke. If Fuji increased by 10%, the tax would then apply to this as well.
Perhaps Fuji was swallowing the difference by subsidizing the wholesale initially, but can no longer do this. Then it’s rather a termination of support. Perhaps adding a made in Japan sticker on that camera fresh out of a Chongqing factory.
But calling it Fuji putting up prices is disengenuous to say the least (by the source).
Well, that’s not all that true. Fujifilm does, in fact, set the price for the retailers. There’s a whole agreement that they make and abide by. Fujifilm is setting the price higher in America, because of this tax that they are now paying as the importer. And indeed the price is set by Fujifilm for all of their cameras and lenses—that’s why all the stores sell them for the same price, and when they go on sale, they do so at the same time and for the same discount. It all comes down from Fujifilm. It’s all a part of the agreement that these stores have with Fujifilm in order to sell their products to begin with.