Recently, Strategy Analytics released the 2020 Q4 smartphone image sensor market share research report. The report indicates that the total revenue of the global smartphone image sensor market reached $15 billion, with an overall year-on-year growth of 13% in 2020.
Among them, Sony ranked first in the smartphone image sensor market with a revenue share of 46%, followed by Samsung LSI with 29% and OmniVision Technologies with 10%. In 2020, the top three suppliers accounted for nearly 85% of the revenue share in the global smartphone image sensor market, driven by the sales of high-resolution image sensors.
Strategy Analytics stated: “The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the image sensor market has been minimal, as smartphone OEMs continue to have strong demand for CIS—these OEMs have widely adopted high-resolution sensors and higher sensor quotas across various price segments in 2020. Due to sanctions on Huawei, Sony has lost key business, while Samsung, OmniVision, and SK Hynix continue to capture market share from Sony. We expect that as competition in the smartphone image sensor market intensifies, Sony’s market dominance will face increasing threats.”
Stephen Entwistle, Vice President of Strategic Technology Practice at Strategy Analytics, commented: “The strong demand for smartphone CIS image sensors is driven by the expansion of multi-camera setups and the superior photographic capabilities of smartphones, which will drive growth in the image sensor market. However, semiconductor shortages may pose challenges in meeting CIS demand.”
In recent years, several major sensor manufacturers have begun to ramp up their efforts, particularly with the recent emergence of various large-sensor models.For instance, the Samsung ISOCELL GN2 CMOS, which is expected to debut with the Xiaomi 11 Ultra, boasts an ultra-large area of 1/1.12 inches.
Previously, OmniVision also announced the launch of a new OH0TA OVMed medical image sensor, which, although not a smartphone sensor, broke the Guinness World Record for the “smallest commercial image sensor” held by its predecessor.Its package size is only 0.55mm x 0.55mm, featuring 1.0-micron pixels and a 1/31″ optical format.
Of course, Sony is not without breakthroughs; it has been reported that the Huawei P50 series will debut the Sony IMX 800 sensor this year, which has a large area of 1/1.18 inches. Although it is slightly smaller than the GN2, it is still a “giant” in its own right.
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