In the southwest of Yokohama, Japan, Fujifilm has poured billions of yen into its factories over the past few years as it has been expanding its production facilities and struggling to meet the global demand for hot products. Instant camera film.
Instant photography is thriving in 2025 when consumers can buy a phone with a 200 megapixel camera. Nostalgic and novelty objects are easy to use and convenient for ages. Analog photos for lovers who don’t want to jump into the deep edge of 35mm film.
Fujifilm’s Instax is the biggest name of the game. Almost 30 years after launching the range in April, Instax announced it had more than 100 million units sold worldwide, with the company reporting record sales over four years.
The camera range was successfully rubbed against modernity, and I found a new fan paying more than a dollar per snap.
Their appeal is “completely against” the efficiency and clarity of modern digital photography, says Ryuichiro Takai, general manager of Fujifilm’s consumer image group over video calls. Still, “For those who take digital cameras as a matter of course, this rear-end thing (instant photos) could become a whole new form of entertainment.”
It’s not always this popular. So why now? And what does that success say about us – as consumers and how do we want to see and experience life?
Editor’s Note: With this feature, CNN producer Asada Yumi won the Instax Wide 400 around Tokyo for a week, taking pictures of the city’s sights.
Instax was not the first instant camera made by Fujifilm.
Both Polaroid and Kodak launched instant cameras a few years ago, but when Fujifilm introduced the Fotorama series in 1981, they had not made any major invasions in the Japanese market. However, even in the country, photollamas did not have a global or cultural footprint.
In the 90s, Takada pointed out the popularity of photo booths in Japan where fujifilm printed photo stickers, and said he tried to combine the compactness of Fujifilm’s disposable Quicksnap camera range with their speed and fun.
The result was the Instax Mini 10, which was released in 1998. The playful rectangular camera with rounded edges produced a rectangular print of about 2 x 3 inches on the film. It took off domestically and quickly followed the Instax width range, producing photos that were more than twice the size and other versions of Mini photos.
In 2002, the company recorded annual sales of 1 million for the first time. Two years later, digital photography became popular, making sales tenth of that. Then my smartphone came. It takes the best part of the decade for Instax to bounce back, and in 2012 the Mini 8 was sold as “the cutest camera in the world” and is popular among young Asian buyers.
Shaking off by two bankruptcies, Polaroid left the instant camera and film business in 2008. Instax grabbed the moment and entered the US and other international markets in 2015.
“Instax has gotten pretty right, but we’ve especially nailed the timing,” said Jaron Schneider, editor-in-chief of Photography Publication Petapixel. “All of a sudden, Fujifilm was the only game in town that made easy-to-access instant cameras.”
In 2017, Instax introduced the square photo format. A year later, Instax reported annual sales of 10 million cameras for the first time.
“It’s explosive and seems like an unprecedented popularity,” Schneider said. “But in fact, it was heading there for a few years. By 2023, Instax had more than half of Fujifilm’s entire camera business. It was an incredible growth in just 10 years, but the first half of that decade was spent building it and sticking to it.”
Behind success is some well-versed products and marketing strategies. Targeting a variety of youth culture markets, Instax collaborated with Taylor Swift and BTS, Universal Studios and Pixar on a special edition, participating in a partnership with the international Breakdance Series and Fashion Week. In Final Fantasy XIV, the latest version of the Japanese video game series, players can use Instax cameras as part of their gameplay.
What used to be a fast photography medium is now a slow and innovative for the younger generation. However, Schneider believes that the pull of an analog experience is not just entertainment.
“ZZ and Gen Alpha are hungry for the nostalgia that millennials have,” he insisted. “They are willing to look back and want something before the world gets very digital, but they can’t, so they take photos and flock to more specific hobbies.
“Being online is always tired, and frankly, isn’t as fun as being in the moment with friends. Instant, and in general, analog, can enjoy those moments and remember them without being drawn out of them.”
Takada puts a big idea behind taking photos in his company’s research, saying that satisfaction and security in keeping physical media are qualities that have been preferred by users for generations. “They say it’s worth being able to ‘touch memories’,” he said.
Daishi Kusunoki, 35, a Tokyo-based videographer, began recording business and personal travel using Instax this summer. “It feels like it’s been cut from the past,” he emailed.
“(Instax) films are expensive, so I’ll be more careful,” Nunoki added. “Before I press the shutter, I naturally notice light, shadows and framing.
“I’m used to high-performance digital cameras in recent years, so these limitations are a good way to learn about photography, and there’s a sense of challenge and fun that comes from the inconvenience.”
When it comes to the revival of analog photography, Schneider put it in a more “founded” culture of recreational activities, as Japan is ahead of the West. But he also believes there is a universal factor that makes it more attractive.
“It’s back to analog because people see it as a more authentic and authentic imaging format. There’s no AI or editing. “This was something we’ve seen quite a bit before the big AI boom, but in the face of constant slops being pushed into front of us, it definitely is.”
Instant photography is an accessible breakwater to modernity due to all its limitations, and we don’t always believe in seeing it.
“It’s reactionary and backwards,” Takada said. “When people ask, ‘Why is Instax being actively received in this digital age?” We simply say it’s against time. ”
That’s not to say Instax doesn’t have one leg in the present. For over 10 years, standalone printers that connect to smartphones have been produced, and hybrid cameras have been launched with digital sensors that can not only print photos, but can also be shared on social media. However, the general denominator is a small handheld print, which has hardly changed since the turn of the century.
Today, Instax cameras are available in over 100 countries, with 90% of sales per Fujifilm outside of Japan, referring to the global appeal of instant photography. Even Polaroid is back and is trying to make up for the lost time in 2020 as a brand. “They are trying to rekindle the lightning bolts of the bottles that Fujifilm had, but everyone knows that it’s not that easy,” Schneider said.
In Fujifilm, consistency and long gameplay paid off.
“Our team (positioned) Instax will become a culture that will take root all over the world, not a temporary boom,” Takada said. “That’s the direction.”
