PREVIEW - Digital Pianos for 2022 - What new digital piano models are coming from Yamaha, Casio, Kawai, Roland, Korg, and others in 2022? Find Out Here | The year 2021 has been the most challenging year ever with regard to lack of digital piano product availability from all major suppliers, new price increases, some piano stores going out of business throughout the US, increased consumer demand, and just overall uncertainty of our economy these days.
Speaking of the US economy, now we all are dealing with "inflation" for the first time in many years and it's going up much more quickly than we expected. High gas prices, high food prices, high housing prices, and overall much higher cost of living. There are many causes that can contribute to inflation, but regardless, we have it. So you put all this together with product shortages and supply chain issues, and things don't look good for digital pianos in 2022.
One of the main culprits contributing to uncertainty for digital pianos in 2022 is the world-wide computer chip shortage. It's a very serious situation affecting all of the digital piano manufacturers, some more than others. But it is a very real situation and I don't see it ending anytime soon. My best educated guess is that we will have digital piano product shortages through all of 2022 on many brands and popular models. Computer chips are in high demand for all kinds of consumer products and digital pianos are no exception. In fact demand for consumer chips worldwide is so strong that some of the overseas chip manufacturers are currently building multi-million dollar chip making factories right here in the US (it's about time)...as long as it eases product delays here in the US.
TOP DIGITAL PIANO BRANDS RIGHT NOW
In fact, the Kawai piano company just announced that they will "temporarily" stop production on at least 4 of their most popular digital piano models raging from approx $1500 to over $4000. These new current model pianos have been extremely popular for the Kawai company but apparently they will not be able to any computer chips for these models until sometime in summer of 2022.
Once those specific Kawai digital pianos are produced again we may not actually see them until September or October of 2022! Kawai digital piano lineup include ES110, KDP75, KDP120, ES520, ES920, MP7SE, MP11SE, VPC-1, CN29, CN39, CA49, CA59, CA79, CA99, NV5S, and NV10S.
Yamaha is having their own share of production delays and their most popular models including their digital grand pianos will likely be delayed for 3-4 moths or more for any new orders. That ETA could change but for now they are very delayed on their most popular digital pianos.
Yamaha's most popular home cabinet models include YDP-144, YDP-164, YDP-184, CLP725, CLP-735, CLP-745, CLP-765GP, CLP-775, CLP-785, CLP-795, CSP-150, CSP-170, CVP-701, CVP-805, CVP-809, and CVP-809GP. Yamaha actually has more models than that but I have listed only their popular cabinet models. Yamaha has, by far, the largest amount of digital piano models of any of the manufacturers.
Roland is having the same issues as Yamaha with their most popular models are also delayed for possibly many months. Roland has many models of digital pianos including FP-30X ($799), FP-60X ($1149), FP-90X ($2299), F701 ($1449), RP701 ($1599), HP702, HP704, LX706, LX708, GP607, and GP609. However, lime Yamaha, Roland also produces pro stage digital pianos, electronic guitar products, electronic drum products, and many other categories of music digital products.
The Casio digital pianos company has had delays as well. But even though their home digital pianos are very popular, the Casio company has seemingly been able to get ahead of the curve of product shortages where the wait time for their piano models is not as long as Yamaha, Kawai, or Roland. This is surprising considering that Casio sells far more "units" of digital pianos and keyboards than does any other digital piano company.
The current Casio models (over $500) include PX-S1100 ($679, PX-S3100 ($899), PX770 ($849), PX870 ($1099), AP-270 ($1199), AP470 ($1699), AP-710 ($2699), GP-310 ($4199), and GP-510 ($6199). Casio also has some portable models under $500 which I have not listed here nor did I list the Yamaha or Roland portable digital pianos under $500. Of the Casio models currently on the market, the most popular models by far are the PX-870 ($1099), PX470 ($1699), and AP-710 ($2699).
Korg is another major digital piano and keyboard company which is very popular with many of their products actually made in Japan as opposed to all made in China. Korg products are well known and used by professional musicians around the world for their quality piano key actions and piano sounds in attractive contemporary cabinets with powerful internal speaker systems. Korg is also having big product delays on their most popular models for as long as 3 months or more wait time.
The most popular Korg pianos right now are the B2SP ($649), XE20SP ($999), LP-380U ($1249), C1 Air ($1599), G1B Air ($1999), and SV2S ($2499). Korg has a few other portable digital pianos as well, but the ones I listed here are most popular. The Korg home cabinet digital pianos don't go beyond $2000 internet price whereas Yamaha, Roland, Kawai, and Casio all have models above $2000 and beyond.
TOP DIGITAL PIANO BRAND PRODUCTS FOR 2022
So what do things look like for new models in 2022? Well here's the confusion lately with that question. Starting with Yamaha, almost all of the Yamaha pianos out now, especially the Clavinova series, have not been out very long, except for the current Arius series which has been out for a few years, Most of them will probably not change for 2022. The only ones where I see a possibility for change are their YDP Arius models because they are getting a bit old. Those pianos have been out for a few years, as I mentioned, and even though they are still popular, they are lacking some of the newer technology features that other digital pianos have such as Bluetooth wireless streaming, etc. So I see a change coming for those models, possibly in 2022.
Roland has had their lineup of home digital pianos out for about 2-3 years but that's really not a long time in the world of digital pianos. The Roland FPX series just came out as did the 701 pianos so those won't change. The oldest models for Roland home pianos would be their digital grand pianos GP607 and GP609. Even though those 2 models are still popular for Roland, they are due for updates to key actions, piano sounds, additional features, etc. So unless Roland cannot catch up with production on current models, I do see a change coming for their digital grand pianos.
But the problem with Roland, like the other guys, is that their current lineup of digital pianos for the HP, LX, and GP series are still "sold out" and on back-order with big delays. When that happens then the motivation for updating those models is much lower on the list of things to do and just getting current models produced in larger quantity usually becomes the most important task for those factories, and not so much making new models right away.
The current model Kawai digital pianos overall are still fairly new with some having just come out within the last 6 months or so. That means Kawai is likely not very motivated to bring out new product for 2022 especially considering their most popular digital pianos, that I previously mentioned, are not going to be produced again until perhaps July or August of 2022, 9 months from now...yikes! That's a very long wait for current model popular digital pianos from that company! So with regard to getting many Kawai digital piano models in 2022, it does not very look good at all.
Casio may come out with a few new models because they seem to be ahead of the inventory curve now and for the 2022 year as I mentioned before. I know for sure they'll have a new replacement for their popular portable model PX-S3000 (currently $849) called the PX-S3100. The 2022 PX-S3100 will be a bit higher priced but it will also have upgrades. The most popular current Casio PX-870 and AP-470 models do not have Bluetooth wireless connectivity whereas a few of their new portable digital pianos do have that technology.
So when it comes to Casio, it is possible they'll upgrade a few of their current furniture cabinet models with the Bluetooth technology, perhaps at some point in 2022. But they could also raise price of those models accordingly, so we'll have to wait and see. I am also anticipating a new model by Casio in either 2022 or 2023 in the $2000/$2100 price point because I think they need one there and likely they have recognized that need as well.
Casio currently has the AP-470 at $1699 and their AP-710 at $2699, but they do not have a model in-between those prices. So it is a very big price jump from that one model to the next and an additional model in that missing price range would help them out a lot and I would personally like to see that because they certainly have the technology for it.
Korg just updated their LP-380 piano ($1249) to include a USB port because it did not have one before. They now call that model the LP-380U and I have done a review of that model. The other Korg models are still relatively new and have been selling so well for them over the past couple years that I really don't see any changes in 2022 for them, especially because they have also had extensive product delays from their factories because of computer chip shortages.
ADDITIONAL PIANO INFORMATION
The bottom line is this: If current model digital pianos by the main manufacturers are not that old and still selling better than ever because of the pandemic with increased product demand couple with some severe product shortages, I really think there will be very little overall product change among the major digital piano manufacturers for 2022. I believe there will be a few new models perhaps, but not many. If there are some changes or new additions then likely we won't see them until late in the year 2022.
The off-brand digital piano companies that regular piano stores typically do not carry are names that you can find at big consumer products stores like Costco, Guitar Center, and other similar businesses. They sell brands that are usually exclusive to them and some of those brands are "house brands" that they have made for them from factories in China. Based on my experiences playing those models, they are not anywhere near the capabilities of the name brands in being able to produce an authentic piano playing experience, and actually a few of them are not good at all in some notable ways which generally have to do with the piano playing experience.
Off-brands (not the well known name brands) include Williams, Suzuki, Artesia, Donner, Eastar, Kurzweil, the One, and a few others. Their digital pianos are not bad, and a few of them have some pretty cool "bells & whistles" on them as well as some nice looking cabinets. But I would personally never buy one or recommend them to my piano students because of key action, piano, sound, and/or pedaling issues that just don't allow you to have a good piano playing experience...and for me that's ultimately what it is all about.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It should not be about the "lowest price," a beautiful cabinet, or bells & whistles like color touch screen, or big speakers. It should be about how good can that instrument be in trying to recreate the piano playing experience you would get on a good acoustic upright or grand piano. In that way those off-brands as I call them just don't cut it at all.
If you want the best piano playing experience that you can get for around $500 to well over $10,000, then stay with the name brands including Kawai, Casio, Yamaha, Roland, and Korg. They offer the best performance, best authenticity, best durability, best warranties, and best resale value of all the brands out there.
Don't get fooled by "slick advertising" and slick promotional videos for some of those off-brands that I mentioned. I have done reviews of most of those lesser known brands and models so that you can know more about their pianos As for those brands coming out with new models in 2022, it's possible but I doubt it because they are having similar production delay issues and most of their models are still relatively new from what I can see.
If you are wanting an up-to-date, new digital piano which will offer a great piano playing experience from a name brand digital piano company...do not wait for any "new models." Other than what I mentioned here, they likely won't have much at all in 2022 in the way of new models beyond what I have already talked about. You'll be fortunate just to get any good new digital piano anytime soon in 2022 because product supply is severely delayed now, and into the future, shipping delays from overseas is still a big problem, and computer chip shortages and shipping delays will also likely get worse. before they get better. Another example is that Yamaha is not expecting more availability on some of their most popular Clavinova models until near summer 2022,
I have heard from reliable sources that Kawai has a waiting period on many of their popular newer digital pianos of 3 months to 10 months or more. Roland has severe product shortages with a waiting time of more than 3 months on some of them as does Korg. Casio is doing better but is close to running out again of their popular models and is currently out of their top-of-the-line popular Grand Hybrid GP-510 which sells on-line at $6199. Yamaha has 2 popular models called CSP series that may not be back on the market for up to 1 year from now...yep...crazy stuff!
I have been told my many people around the country looking or waiting for their piano orders, that they are still waiting for their piano order to come in that was placed over 6 months ago or more. This is not counting new orders placed now. It really is that bad.
So again, if you want a new name brand digital piano anytime in the near future, please do not wait. Take my advice and put in your order now or as soon as possible. Most places will allow you to order with a relatively small deposit that can be refundable should the piano not come in or if you get to a point where you don't want to wait any longer.
So get in line, wait, and have patience...you'll eventually get the piano you want and likely have it for years to come. So what's another few months when you'll have it for many, many years into the future! Please contact us before you buy any piano from anyone. We will help you what you want, and at better prices with free shipping and no tax, brand new.
If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.
