What happens when you take a Canon R50 and add a V? You get the EVF-less R50V with a host of small changes, mostly centered around video.
Several new video modes (slow shutter, slow/fast recording, log assist viewing, and a better stabilization for video) are the primary difference in function. The primary difference externally is, of course, the change in body style to a smaller, more creator-friendly one. Curiously, while the body slims down quite a bit in size, the weight remains close to the same.
Along with the body Canon announced the 15-30mm f/4-6.3 RF-S lens, which provides about a 23-48mm equivalent angle of view with Canon's 1.6x+ crop.
Like many cameras before it (Fujifilm X-M5, Nikon Z30, etc.), the R50V is an entry-level body, so body-only price is US$650, and the kit with the new lens is US$850.
Commentary: The camera companies continue to backfill the market that they left, basically the US$500-1000 compact camera. Most are doing it with an interchangeable lens camera with no viewfinder, just as Canon has now just done with the R50V.
I wrote that it was a mistake when the camera companies first started cancelling their compact lines, and it's clear that they've now figured that out. It's not easy pulling a young smartphone user all the way to a sophisticated mirrorless camera that costs US$1000 or more. There has to be an intermediary step where that potential customer sees that they get something beyond what their smartphone can do, but aren't spending money they're not making yet to get it. If you capture that first upgrade into dedicated cameras, you can start building a new long term customer base again.
The reason you need a new long term customer base is that the old one that started with film or instant cameras is slowly dying off (or retiring to things other than photography).
