The smartphone market shrunk in 2022, which impacted the suppliers of picture sensors. Some fared higher than others although – Sony was the one provider to see its income develop on a yearly foundation.
And it was largely because of Apple upgrading the cameras on the iPhone 14 sequence. The 2 Professional fashions introduced new 48MP sensors in the primary cameras and bigger 12MP sensors within the extremely large cameras. The selfie cam on all 4 fashions was upgraded with autofocus too. Apple solely makes use of Sony sensors, you may see the breakdown by digital camera sort under:.
The Sony sensors contained in the final two generations of iPhones (supply: Counterpoint BoM evaluation service)
Including all of it collectively, Sony made an additional $6 per unit for a complete of round $300 million within the second half of 2022. The top result’s that Sony took in 54% of the overall income for the yr, up 5 share factors in comparison with 2021.
Samsung LSI did properly for itself, though its income share contracted by 1 share level to 29%. The corporate raked in the advantages of excessive decision, small pixel measurement sensors (sub-0.7µm pixels).
The inexpensive 50MP sensors proved fairly well-liked and Samsung shipped an estimated 200 million of them in 2022. These are utilized in the primary cameras of decrease finish telephones and within the selfie cameras of extra premium gadgets. The corporate nonetheless dominates the 100+ megapixel sensor market and shipped an estimated 150 million models because it launched the primary one.
Final yr the smartphone picture sensor market contracted by 6% in comparison with 2021, however the whole income remained above $13 billion. Sony and Samsung took within the lion’s share of that, 83% in whole.
