Canon USA Press Release

CANON INC. REPORTS RECORD RESULTS FOR FIRST QUARTER 2005

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — April 27, 2005 — Canon U.S.A., Inc., a subsidiary of Canon Inc. (NYSE: CAJ — news) and a leader in imaging technologies, today announced Canon Inc. first-quarter 2005 consolidated net sales of 843.4 billion yen (US$ 7,882 million), which represents a year-over-year increase of 5.7% over first-quarter 2004.

Canon reported first-quarter net income of 93.1 billion yen (US$ 870 million), which represents a year-over-year increase of 10.4% and basic earnings per share of 104.93 yen (US$ 0.98).

Operating profit also advanced, improving 7.3% over first-quarter 2004.

“The increase in net sales was due to strong sales of color copying machines and color laser beam printers as demand for office color has increased and stable sales of digital cameras.,” said Toshizo Tanaka, Senior Managing Director and Group Executive for Finance and Accounting Headquarters, Canon Inc.

Mr. Tanaka added, “Although a difficult environment is expected in the second quarter and for the full year, we expect to exceed our sales and profit results of last year and achieve our sixth consecutive year of sales and profit growth.”

For more detailed information and tables, please refer to our Announcement of First-Quarter 2005 financial results at www.canon.com/ir/index.html.

About Canon U.S.A., Inc.
Canon U.S.A., Inc. delivers consumer, business-to-business, and industrial imaging solutions. The Company is listed as one of Fortune’s Most Admired Companies in America and is rated #35 on the BusinessWeek list of “Top 100 Brands.” Its parent company Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ) is a top patent holder of technology, ranking third overall in the U.S. in 2004, with global revenues of $33.3 billion. For more information, visit www.usa.canon.com.

This release may contain forward-looking statements with respect to future results, performance and achievements that are subject to risk and uncertainties and reflect management’s views and assumptions formed by available information. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be considered forward-looking statements. When used in this release, words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project” or “should” and similar expressions, as they relate to Canon, are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Canon to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, among others, changes in general economic and business conditions, changes in currency exchange rates and interest rates, introduction of competing products by other companies, lack of acceptance of new products or services by Canon’s targeted customers, inability to meet efficiency and cost reduction objectives, changes in business strategy and various other factors, both referenced and not referenced in this release. A detailed description of these and other risk factors
is included in Canon’s annual report on Form 20-F, which is on file with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein. Canon does not intend or assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Note: In this release, U.S. dollar amounts are translated from yen at the rate of US$ = JPY107, the approximate exchange rate on the Tokyo Foreign Exchange Market as of March 31, 2005, solely for the convenience of the reader.