Question How come compact camcorders stopped evolving at 2160p 30fps?

[HyperBear]

The video resolution and frame rate of compact camcorders increased rapidly in the early 2010s but stopped abruptly at 2160p 4K at 30 frames per second. Since 2014, no compact camcorder with 2160p at 60fps has been released, only bulky heavy camcorders. At the same time, smartphone video cameras shot past 2160p 30fps. They evolved to 2160p 60fps and even 4320p 8K.

How come compact camcorders never made it past 2160p 30fps?

History
In 2012, there were already high-end compact camcorders with 1080p 50fps such as the Panasonic HC-V500, while smartphones could only record in 1080p 30fps at best, and were not even optically stabilized. The higher framerate provides a significant smoothness benefit, which improves the watching experience.

In 2014, compact 4K (2160p) 30fps camcorders such as the Sony FDR-AXP33 already existed, and even higher-end compact cameras and bridge cameras such as the Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 and the Sony RX100 IV achieved 2160p. But then, compact camcorders and high-end compact cameras abruptly stopped evolving while smartphone video cameras shot right past them. Not even the Sony RX100 VII (2019) supports 2160p at 60fps, four generations after the RX100 IV that introduced 2160p 30fps in 2015.

Smartphones can record in 1080p since 2011 (Samsung Galaxy S2, iPhone 4s) and 2160p since 2013 (Samsung Galaxy Note 3); most other phone vendors followed in 2014 (LG, Sony Xperia, etc.) and Apple and HTC in 2015 with their iPhone 6s and 6s+ and HTC One M9. This means by 2015, pretty much all high-end smartphones supported 2160p 4K video recording.

In 2018, 2160p 60fps became commonplace on flagship smartphones, and in 2020, 4320p 8K video cameras were introduced to smartphones, while compact camcorders are still stuck in the past (2160p 30fps). Heck, even smartphone front cameras can do 2160p 60fps at this point (Galaxy S23 Ultra), whereas the only dedicated camcorders that are able to film in 2160p at 60fps are heavy bulky professional camcorders.

Smartphone camera resolutions from Wikipedia:

Smartphones had a four-year gap between 2160p 30fps and 60fps, but compact camcorders with 2160p 30fps came nine years ago. So how come we still have no 2160p 60fps compact camcorders?

Why am I asking this question? Aren't dedicated camcorders obsolete anyway?
Dedicated camcorders are not obsolete.
There are features smartphones can not have due to their form factor, such as optical zooming, tripod mounting, and dedicated intuitive buttons. There is just not enough physical space in a smartphone for it. Even smartphones' additional rear cameras with fixed magnification levels come nowhere close to the optical zoom lenses of dedicated camcorders.

Importantly, dedicated camcorders have hot swapping. The battery and memory card can be quickly swapped once they are exhausted. A replacement battery can be recharged on an external charger attached to a power bank so the camcorder can continue to be used without being chained to a power bank which would make it less comfortable to hold.

Not only do many smartphones lack a user-replaceable battery and memory card, but even when most non-Apple smartphones had those features, the smartphone batteries and memory cards were difficult to access compared to the batteries on dedicated camcorders, where it takes about ten seconds to swap it out.

How come compact camcorders got stuck in 2014 and never made it to 60fps at 2160p?

 

[realspeed]

Just to point out the Panasonic DC-TZ95 compact camera that uses an MP4 format and 4k recording at 3840x21260 ,30p @100Mbps as just a couple of options, there are more.
The thing is one doesn't buy a compact camera to do the same as say a Panasonic HC-X1500 camcorder, each has its own purpose and use.
I discount mobile phones as I don't consider them as cameras, just additional gadget to sell the item.
I do have a good DSLR Nikon D810 but my choice for our trip to Norway -Fareo isle and Iceland was those two panasonics.

 

[HyperBear]

30p

And that's the problem. Compact cameras and high-end compact cameras have reached 3840×2160, 30p almost a decade ago, and since then, the resolution and framerate have not increased.

At the same times, smartphone cameras raced past 2160p 30fps. Since 2018, high-end smartphones support 2160p 60fps and 1080p 240fps video recording, and now, even mid-class smartphones such as the Xiaomi Poco F4 can do that. Since 2020, high-end smartphones have 8K (4320p) video recording!

60 frames per second are necessary to get a smooth, life-like experience.

The thing is one doesn't buy a compact camera to do the same as say a Panasonic HC-X1500 camcorder, each has its own purpose and use.

It still does not explain why the resolution and frame rate of compact camcorders stagnated in 2014 at 2160p and 30fps. Why has there not been any improvement since then?

The HC-X1500 is sadly not so compact. It is heavy and bulky and not as portable as, for example, an a compact camcorder like the HC-V500. An HC-V500 fits into a pocket. It was released in 2012 and has 1080p50, meaning 1080p 50fps video recording. One would expect that 11 years later, camcorders of the same form factor would support 2160p at 60fps.

 

[Gordon Streeter]

Basically the whole camera/camcorder industry has been struggling for the last 10 years with dropping sales, the general public don't need to buy a camera that records stills and videos, as the top of the range phones are perfect for what they want and they have them to hand.
Years ago most households had a camera of some sort and if they wanted to make movies they had to buy a cine camera, this of course moved on to video and then the small camcorders with tape until they went completely digital. When the phones started to get good visual resolution things changed.
A part of my family actually had a camera repair business for 40 years up until 3 years ago that used to do all the warrantee work for Canon UK, but work started to dry up and now he repairs printers. The bottom line is that the general public are just not buying cameras or camcorders in quantity anymore, except us enthusiast and professionals so it's not good business sense to make them if they can't sell them unfortunately. No doubt phones will improve and be able to do most things that our beloved camcorders do in the near future. There are quite a few good films made solely with phones with all the trick editing software that is advancing in leaps and bounds today.

 

[HyperBear]

No doubt phones will improve and be able to do most things that our beloved camcorders do in the near future.

Except 40× optical zoom and immediate storage and battery replacements.

A 2012 camcorder can capture the moon better than the shiniest newest smartphone such as the S23 Ultra. And the 2012 camcorder does not rely on software trickery as was exposed on the S23. It used pre-loaded moon images in the camera software.

I think camcorder vendors failed to communicate the benefits of dedicated camcorders to the technically illiterate masses. At the same time, Apple blasted dedicated camcorders as obsolete on their iPhone 6 keynote in 2014.

Anyone remember what they’re called – camcorder, yeah camcorder. I think our parents used to use these. People aren’t using them anymore.

(Courtesy of singjupost.com)

And camcorder vendors just let it happen and did nothing!

This was years before iPhones were first equipped with stereo audio recording (2018)! Yes, that's right. iPhones did not even have stereo audio recording on their video cameras, and Apple had the egoism to proclaim that camcorders are anywhere near obsolete. And stereo audio sounds much better on headphones due to spatiality than the mono audio from iPhones, and Samsung phones had stereo audio since 2012, and dedicated camcorders before this century.

 

[Gordon Streeter]

But no doubt a decent zoom will appear along with instantly replaceable batteries. And please don't tell me that cameras can capture the moon better than a phone ! as I have been into photography/film making since I left school in 1962.