Sony Suspends a7C and a6600, End-of-Live for a7 II and a6100
The chip shortage continues to hamper Sony’s ability to produce cameras. Today, the company has announced that it is no longer accepting orders for the Alpha 7C and a6600 and has “completed production” on the Alpha 7 II and a6100. In a statement posted to Sony Japan’s website, Sony says it is no longer fulfilling orders for its a7C full-frame mirrorless camera and its a6600 APS-C mirrorless camera, as ‘there is a delay in procurement of parts for digital imaging products due to the global shortage of semiconductors.’ Sony even suggests current orders could go unfulfilled, saying ‘in addition, some orders will be suspended.’ Sony Japan says it will keep retailers and consumers updated on the supply status via the product pages on its website for the respective products.
In early November, Sony stopped accepting orders for the Alpha 7 II and the a6100, but today has announced that since there is “no prospect of future parts supply,” it has decided to permanently end production of both cameras. It and the a6100 have been designated as “production completed.” It is still possible to find these cameras for sale through dealers, but the remaining stock is all that will remain of these cameras.
The a6600 and the Alpha 7C have been moved to the “suspended” phase, and Sony is no longer accepting orders for either camera. The two join the ZVE-10 that was similarly designated on December 3. The Alpha 7C isn’t quite as recent of a release as the ZV-E10 was, but it is still relatively new. The camera was announced in September of 2020. The a6600 is about a year older and was announced in August of 2019.
Presumably, Sony is making this move in an effort to direct chips to its higher-end full-frame camera systems, such as the a7 IV, a1, and a7S III models.
In just the last two months, Sony has been forced to suspend orders or cease all production of eight total camera products, while the availability of many camera products it does continue to manufacture are becoming more difficult to find.
More info on Sony’s website.