Polaroid Corporation is most famous for its instant film cameras. It was founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land. The company's original dominant market was in polarized sunglasses.

Instant photography was introduced with the Polaroid Model 95 camera and Type 40 film at the presentation to The Optical Society in New York City on February 21st, 1947. Polaroid Instant Cameras reached the retail stores in 1948. They were a success as well as later models; and by the early 60th Polaroid expanded to Canada and Europe offering to public not only cameras, but film rolls (both black & white and color (since 1963)).

In 1972 Polaroid makes a revolution in photography launching a “magic camera.” The SX-70 appeared to be a true SLR that folds flat and produces photographs instantly. Autofocus technology comes a little bit later with the SX-70 Sonar OneStep and the Pronto! Sonar OneStep cameras.

In 1986 Polaroid defeated Kodak in a patent battle and forced Kodak to leave the instant camera business.

Film Instant cameras continued to be the company's flagship product line until the February 2008 when the company ceased its production in favor of digital photography products. But even earlier had Polaroid Corporation realized that it should march in step with time, and already in 1996 they made their first digital model, the PDC-2000. In 2003, Polaroid Instant digital prints kiosks were born.

Apart from cameras, Polaroid branded LCDs and plasma televisions, portable DVD players & printers have also appeared on the market.

In summer of 2008, Polaroid released the PoGo, a credit-card-sized instant photo printer. It uses the ZINK (zero ink) technology. Later, the company wrapped an inkless digital printer in a digital camera to create the Polaroid PoGo Instant Digital Camera - digital cameras with a built-in printer. The camera goes on sale in March 2009.