Smartphones equipped with a 40-megapixel or higher camera are expected to become mainstream this year. Apple is also expected to further promote the spread of high-definition cameras by installing a 48-megapixel camera on the iPhone 14 Pro (tentative name), which is scheduled to be released this year, for the first time.
According to TrendForce, a market research company on the 14th, among smartphone cameras last year, 13 to 48 million pixels took the first place with a 50% market share, followed by 49 to 64 million pixels with a 20% market share. In third place is the 12-megapixel camera that the iPhone series is mainly equipped with.
However, this year, as the penetration rate of 49-64 million-pixel cameras increases by 23% from the previous year, 40-megapixel or more cameras are expected to become the mainstream. The iPhone 14 Pro is also expected to add strength to this.
TrendForce predicts that the iPhone 14 Pro will be equipped with a 48-megapixel camera this year. If the iPhone 14 Pro is released as expected, it will be the first time in about 7 years that Apple raises the camera specifications. Apple has maintained the 12-megapixel camera since the iPhone 6S in 2015.
The market share of high-end 108-megapixel cameras that Samsung Electronics, Xiaomi, Vivo, and Honor have installed is expected to exceed 5% this year.
Smartphone camera module shipments this year are expected to increase by 2% year-on-year to 4.92 billion units. This is a slight increase compared to the 27% increase in 2019.
TrendForce explained, “Recently, as consumers realize that the third and fourth cameras (macro and depth cameras) are used less frequently and have limited overall picture quality improvement, pixels are more important than the number of cameras.”
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“From 2020, triple cameras have become popular mainly in mid-range smartphones and have led to an increase in overall smartphone module shipments, but triple camera modules will be maintained for the next two to three years,” he predicted.
In addition, it is analyzed that the increase in the cost burden due to the increase in the price of semiconductor chips such as power management semiconductor (PMIC) and display driver IC (DDI) and increase in transportation cost also had an effect on the slowdown in the increase in the number of camera modules.