Originally posted by Mistral75 The data in the graph come from shipments and shipment prices, not retail sales and retail prices. There is no certainty that the corresponding pieces of equipment, pushed by manufacturers through the distribution channels, were all sold without any being discounted, sometimes heavily discounted, sometimes not sold at all. They therefore reflect the will of manufacturers to move upmarket (including by cutting off the low-end tail) more than an ILC consumers' move.
Color me skeptical.
Sure, some models and some inventories might get discounted, but on-average, the retailer's average selling prices must be higher than the maker's average shipping prices or the retailer will soon die.
And if you are suggesting that camera makers are fudging their shipping prices (claiming they shipped a $5,000 camera knowing it will get discounted to $2,000 and that the retailer will only pay a fraction of the $2,000), then neither the low average prices of yesteryear nor the high average prices of today have any meaning. The entire curve could only reflect changes in fictional prices that have little to do actual average sales prices.
Moreover, I've not heard of any shortages of cheap the Canon T6 Rebels. They are the best selling ILCs on Amazon which would be impossible if Canon were cutting off the low-end tail. If anything, it's the higher-end newly launched cameras that seem to be in short supply because consumers have moved up-market faster than camera makers have.