The rapid collapse of the consumer camera market was totally unexpected and many companies, once known primarily for cameras, got out of the market.
Other companies, at one time competitors, combined to survive. Minota merged with Konica, later both got absorbed by Sony. Pentax got absorbed by Ricoh. It was like the bigger fish in the ocean eating the small fish.
Other companies sold off the naming rights to others. Now you find Kodak and Polaroid names on cameras from companies with no direct connection to the founders. Names of companies that have not designed or made a camera in decades such as Argus or Bell & Howell still show up in blister packs hanging on wall displays in big box stores. Cameras with the Minolta name on them are now found at QVC.
Even Olympus has turned over their line of cameras to a separate company.
So who is buying what today? [Next Page]
Today, there is still an active market for the very high end cameras, as in $2,000 for camera bodies and $600 or more for lenses. The bottom of the market the former consumer snapshooter market is practically gone. And flooding thrift stores everywhere is a mountain of used and aging consumer cameras of sale for at best $0.10 on a dollar. Given the fact that this process started almost 20 years ago, a large number of these cameras may look attractive but are functionally obsolete. Some $20 cameras designed for a little children actually have higher specifications and somewhat better performance than these oldies but not goodies. It's some later date I will do a quick guide to cameras to avoid in the thrift store piles.
Will we ever go back to using cameras that are simply cameras? Perhaps. There will always be enthusiasts who want to actually make photographs where they have some control over what they're doing and that they can craft the photo to look the way they want. More on that elsewhere.