Samsung has aggressively launched several advanced mobile camera sensors in recent years. This strategy of flooding the market with multiple newer options for OEMs has paid off to great extent. It has helped the company close the market share gap with leader Sony. The Korean giant is now reportedly preparing to launch more camera sensors in the coming years to further close that gap.
According to a new report coming from South Korea, Samsung is planning to invest huge sums of money in its camera sensor division System LSI over the next few years (via). There are several new products in the pipeline, including a new 50-megapixel ISOCELL image sensor.
The company not only wants to widen its portfolio but also improve the performance of its products to better compete with Sony. It is reportedly aiming to narrow the market share gap with the Japanese giant to within ten percent over the next five years.
As of last year, according to research firm Strategy Analytics, Samsung had a 29 percent revenue share in the mobile camera sensor market. Sony, on the other hand, led the market with a 46 percent revenue share. That’s a gap of 17 percentage points. But if you look at the data for the previous years, Sony used to have a revenue share of more than 50 percent. Samsung, meanwhile, distantly followed it with just around 20 percent share of the market.
Quite clearly, the Korean behemoth has significantly narrowed the gap on the market leader in recent years. It is now aiming to further narrow that gap with some big investments in the coming years.
Samsung aims to get closer to Sony in the camera sensor market
Samsung has been investing heavily in the System LSI business arm recently. Since mid-2018, the company has released multiple high-resolution image sensors, including the world’s first 108-megapixel smartphone camera. Reports suggest it is now working on a 200-megapixel camera that could debut as early as next year.
In the meantime, Samsung has been also expanding its camera sensor production facilities in recent years. Along with newer plants, the Korean giant converted parts of its DRAM production lines to manufacture camera sensors as well. These investments have born big fruits for the company. It is now preparing to further bolster that investment to catch up with Sony. It now remains to be seen how close Samsung get to Sony in the camera sensor market over the next five years.