Counterpoint Research: Sony and Samsung Captured 85% of Smartphone CIS Market

Counterpoint Research publishes its analysis of smartphone image sensor market. Its key points are:

• An annual revenue growth rate of up to 10%
• The total revenue from smartphones is likely to grow above $12b
• Smartphones is the single largest end-market accounted for nearly 70% of the overall CIS revenue in 2018
• In 2018, each smartphone featured 2.4 image sensors on average
• By 2020, this number is expected to be over three
• In 1H 2019, over US$5b worth of CIS were sold in smartphones.
• Sony Image Sensor Solutions accounted for over 20% of Sony’s total operating income during the quarter ending June 2019
• In Q2 2019, Sony earned 195 billion yen or over US$1.8b from image sensor sales
• Sony is planning to invest in CIS ~700 billion yen (~$6.5b) during the period of 2018~2020
• Samsung LSI is to invest KRW 133 trillion (roughly $10.8b) for non-memory semiconductors
• Samsung CIS business stands at ~$2.46b in terms of revenue
• Samsung’s image sensors are used in its own phones as well as in Chinese brands like Xiaomi, Vivo, and OPPO
• During H1 2019, Sony and Samsung together occupied approximately 85% of sales revenue
• Smaller players like OmniVision and SK Hynix are primarily used in front cameras or multi-camera setups as supplementary sensors
• SK Hynix plans to transform part of its DRAM fabs to production of CIS