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Canon Inc. won the top market share in global digital camera shipments in 2006, and South Korea's Samsung Electronics jumped up the ranks to 5th place from 9th a year ago, researcher IDC said on Tuesday.

Tokyo-based Canon shipped 19.7 million digital cameras in 2006, accounting for 18.7 per cent of the overall market. Canon's shipments jumped 23.3 per cent from 2005, IDC said.

Industrywide digital camera shipments in 2006 rose 14.5 per cent to 106 million units from a year earlier, driven by the strong popularity of single-lens reflex (DSLR) models geared for photo enthusiasts and professionals and growing demand in emerging markets, IDC said.

DSLR shipments grew 39 per cent to 5 million units last year.

Sony Corp. was No. 2 in the market with a 15.8 per cent share, up from 15.2 per cent in 2005, benefiting from its entry into the DSLR market, IDC said.

Eastman Kodak, the only U.S. company among the top five digital camera makers, ranked third with 10 per cent, a drop from its 14.2 per cent share a year earlier. Olympus Corp., which came in fourth, trimmed its share to 8.6 per cent from 9.8 per cent in 2005.

"The big winner in 2006 was Samsung, who displaced Nikon and became the fifth-largest seller of digital cameras in the world," said Christopher Chute, an IDC analyst.

Samsung expanded its market share to 7.8 per cent in 2006, a huge jump from the 3.8 per cent it had a year earlier. Its shipments more than doubled, IDC said.

Nikon Corp., the world's second-biggest maker of professional cameras after Canon, ranked No. 6 in the overall digital camera market with a 7.6 per cent market share in 2006.

Canon also dominated the booming DSLR market, securing a 46.7 per cent share in 2006, with its shipments rising 30.7 per cent from a year earlier. But its share was trimmed from the 49.5 per cent it had in 2006 amid increased competition from rivals.

Nikon secured the No. 2 position in DSLRs with a 33 per cent market share. Its shipments jumped 35.9 per cent.

Sony, which bought the DSLR unit of Konica Minolta Holdings shipped 326,240 DSLRs in 2006, accounting for 6.2 per cent of the market.

Global Digital Still Camera Shipments by Vendor 2006 and 2005

                                Shipments Share(%)  Shipments Share(%)

1. Canon            19,747,351 (18.7)       16,030,746 (17.4)
2. Sony              16,718,209 (15.8)        14,024,195 (15.2)
3. Kodak           10,567,943 (10.0)        13,144,883 (14.2)
4. Olympus            9,117,141 (8.6)            9,089,576 (9.8)
5. Samsung            8,281,648 (7.8)            3,546,367 (3.8)
6. Nikon                8,060,250 (7.6)            7,251,566 (7.9)

Global Digital SLR Camera Shipments by Vendor 2006 and 2005

                                    Shipments Share(%)   Shipments Share(%)

1. Canon                  2,460,339 (46.7)      1,882,162 (49.5)
2. Nikon                   1,740,169 (33.0)      1,280,172 (33.7)
3. Sony                          326,240 (6.2)                        0 0.0
4. Olympus                    311,116 (5.9)           217,135 (5.7)
5. Pentax                       285,932 (5.4)           175,112 (4.6)

(Source: IDC)