Fuji interview: New Lens roadmap to be released in 2019

Newsswitch interviewed Fujifilm Manager Toshihisa Iida. Here is a summary of the interview I blatantly copied from Fujirumors.com :)

Fujifilm GFX System

Fujifilm GFX100 orders in the first month were more than twice than expected
GFX100 got attention of high-end amateurs
The GFX100 has features such as high-pixel, high-sensitivity, and wide-gamut video shooting that can be used in a wide range of applications
Weight and slowness are the challenges of cameras equipped with medium-sized or larger image sensors
The GFX100 is also valued for its improvement

How to revitalize the market

Expanding the APS-C X System
evolve the existing models
market demand for high-performance products is increasing
High end gear is becoming more expensive and heavier
It is important to meet the expectations of the high-end customers
demand for video will grow
smartphones are evolving with computational photography, but for background blur or shooting in a dark place, interchangeable lens cameras are still superior
Toshihisa Iida thinks that struggling digital camera sales it is not only because of the popularity of smartphones, but also because there are no products that are more attractive than smartphones. He would like to revitalize the market by creating a popular type of camera that can attractive for smartphone users

How to Overcome Challenges

Proceed with efforts to improve production efficiency and reduce costs
it is difficult to increase the efficiency of lens production
Automation technology is incorporated into the Miyagi factory. Some interchangeable lenses are also automated, but the human eye is absolutely neccessary for the adjustment process

Future Roadmap

The roadmap is updated once a year. To date, we have announced an average of 5 or 6 new products each year. We are not going to slow that pace