Pentax has done what Olympus did in the late 1980s, it has lost touch with its market. Olympus took its magnificent OM range and added the OM101, Pentax has failed to move into mirrorless and has produced the wrong type of film camera - it should have produced a proper SLR for which there is a full range of lenses. A choice of film or a modern full frame sensor digital bodies might just have breathed life into the company.
Actually, you're fairly misinformed here.
If we're talking about Pentax 'losing the battle' between the major companies, that fall happened decades ago, ever since Hoya acquired Pentax early 2000's. From this point on (and of course a few years/decade earlier), Pentax would never be able to compete at the same level. It was only a matter of time till technology shifted and Pentax would find themselves unable to financially pivot. The Pentax K-1 was in many ways Pentax's real last gift to its loyal fan base as they all were crying out for a digital full frame camera (in which to use all their older vintage glass), but that was 2016 and no successor since. Their medium format line died, the pulled back from brick and mortar stores, became workshop based and focused on the Eastern (Japanese) market only (where APS-C tends to do better), anything sold in the West was a bonus but never banked on.
The part you're wrong about tho is the Pentax 17. That thing is flying off the shelves, it is experiencing its own little 'Fuji X100VI' moment of fame, similar to their parent company with the Ricoh GRIII, struggling to fulfill orders. The amount of units they have sold is astonishing, I was privy to the information for the first week of total sales for Australia (I am affiliated with Pentax) and it was honestly jaw dropping. I would not at all be surprised if the Pentax 17 will out profit their last few years of digital bodies sales (and all its variants). Pentax have totally knocked the ball out of the park with this one, calling this the 'wrong type of film camera' couldn't be further from the truth, at least from a profit/financial perspective.
We might not be the customers (that it appeals to), but there has (and still is) definitely a strong customer base wanting this camera.
There is serious doubt a K-1III would actually do all that well. Who in 2024 wants a chunky DSLR which will surely lack in many specs compared to what we can have today with our mirrorless cousins. So the idea of breathing life back into the company with a new digital body is just not a very good assertion, it hasn't been working very well for them for the last decade or so. The problem is, because their funding and resources are much smaller, by the time they actually have the camera built and ready for sale, its woefully out of date. The K3III would have been a great camera in 2017, but in 2022 it was already lacking. Right now I am not sure a K-1III would even beat a Nikon D850 in specs, is this really something that everyone wants? A Pentax 'D850'? And can you imagine the price they will charge for it? They haven't exactly been cheap of late..
