Market Pulse

Forward Concepts published its "Cellular Handset and Tablet Chip Markets 2012" research saying that in 2011 market for image sensors in phones and tablets was $2.9B. This compares with $15.9B for baseband chips, $5.5B for power management units, $3.7B for RF transceivers, $3.6B for RF power amplifiers, $2.8B for standalone application processors, and $2.7B for touch-screen controllers.

Reuters published an article on digital camera market. "For several years, it has been predicted that smartphone adoption would cut into digital camera sales," said Prashant Malaviya, Associate Professor of Marketing at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. "In fact, the exact opposite has happened."

"Camera photography is certainly not dead," said Liz Cutting, NPD Group. "We're just seeing a skewing towards what the smartphone can't deliver. People are recognizing that and are going for a higher end camera." Surveys by NPD Group show that while more than a quarter of all American photos were taken by a smartphone, more people were buying cameras with detachable lenses or cameras with optical zooms of 10x or more.

In markets such as the US and Japan, says Japan-based IHS analyst Kun Soo Lee, there's not many more people who want to buy compact point-and-shoot camera, a trend which has meant many mobile phones now do a better job of a point-and-shoot camera. How traditional camera makers react to these challenges is unclear. Canon, for example, has no obvious strategy to combat the rise of the smartphone, said IHS's Kun, and so will have to keep on peddling digital cameras.