Compact camera module market to reach $51bn by 2020

According Yole Développement’s new report, titled Camera Module Industry, the mobile phone segment will grow from 72% to 74% of revenues due to improving specifications and average selling price. Therefore, mobile phone manufacturers meet the increased market demand for higher quality photos and propose innovative products with more and more efficient camera modules. Under this context, Yole highlights the CCM price increase: “This trend is a real surprise. Indeed, at Yole, we follow the electronic components market for the mobile phone industry for a long time and we know the strategic importance of price in this sector,” comments Pierre Cambou, Activity Leader at Yole.

This market demand is partly answered by the penetration of Auto Focus (AF) and the Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) application (see the illustration below) reaching $5.5bn in 2020, with 21% CAGR between 2015 and 2020. Such figure highlights the strategic importance of the AF & OIS applications in the mobile phone sector and the possible implication of those technologies in future sensing applications.

The Camera Module Industry report is the first technology and market analysis focused on the camera module market and technologies, performed by Yole’s analysts. It has been performed in collaboration with Jean-Luc Jaffard, formerly at STMicroelectronics and part of Red Belt Conseil. In this report, both experts propose a comprehensive overview of the CCM applications and key players. The report includes revenue forecast, volume shipment and sub-component breakdown by application.

“There is a different market trajectory for the lens and sensor markets, which are now maturing at approximately 14% CAGR with the emergence of giant billion-dollar companies”, explain Yole’s analysts. CCM and auto-focus manufacturing markets, which are still very fragmented and growing at roughly 20% CAGR, should experience consolidation over the next five years.

The stakes are high, since the mobile phones market is maturing and micro-cameras are key differentiators. The consumer appetite for slimmer mobile devices is forcing CCM players into a major technological race while at the same time demanding massive investment to keep up with volume. The CCM industry greatly benefited from the adoption of high-resolution cameras in mobile phones, which has since doubled by the adoption of front-facing ones. Current revenues are mainly driven by the increasing resolution of both rear and front-facing mobile cameras. But new applications, especially in the automotive area, are starting to play an important role.

“Automotive has a long way to go: technologies are just good enough to enter the current market as they reach consumer expectation”, asserts Cambou. “The technology will quickly evolve and serve the autonomous vehicle trend.” Automotive has had a significant impact on the CCM ecosystem. Automotive cameras have shifted from an add-on feature to must-have standard equipment, and regulations in the European Union and the United States are encouraging this transition. Automotive module revenue reached $1.2bn in 2014, and growing at a CAGR of 36% should reach $7.9bn by 2020. This exceptional growth has mainly benefited the CCM industry’s second-tier players, but the response of market leaders will be worth watching. As the camera module application moves from imaging to sensing, the automotive ADAS application is the perfect barometer of what’s to come for the entire camera module industry. 

The computing sector is also an area analysed by the market research and strategy consulting firm, Yole. This market is important in value but its growth is stable. According to Yole’s analysts, the computing sector could expect a large growth with the addition of innovative sensors. New applications in video interaction are to revolutionise computing camera usages.

Yole’s report, Camera Module Industry, looks systematically at the CCM applications on key CMOS image sensors growth areas and their respective technology issues.