Digitimes: Largan forecasts that 8MP will become the mainstream resolution in camera phones in the second half of 2011. As most first-tier handset vendors are set to launch new models at the end of the second quarter and the beginning of the third quarter, most of Largan's shipments are expected to turn to 8MP, up from less than 10% currently.
If Largan is correct in its predictions, it means that the mainstream phones are switching from 1/4" sensors to 1/3" ones, as most of the major companies are relying on 1.4um pixels as the current technology mainstream.
A transition to a larger die would suggest that z-height isn't a dominant factor for most of the market, even though reduced z-height seems to be a key selling point between image sensor makers and handset makers for smart phones.
ReplyDeleteThe numbers likely won't be public information until well after the fact, but I wonder if there's enough competitive pressure in the market that price drops offset additional revenue from volume growth so that profits have to come from production efficiency rather than from unique features. I suppose that's a kind of technology-and-market-maturation question, ultimately.