The smartphone market shrank in 2022, which has impacted image sensor vendors. However, some fared better than others: Sony was the only vendor to see its revenue grow year-on-year.
And it was largely thanks to Apple updating the cameras of the iPhone 14 series. The two Pro models introduced new 48MP sensors in the main cameras and larger 12MP sensors in the ultra-wide-angle cameras. The selfie cam on all four models has also been updated with autofocus. Apple uses Sony sensors exclusively, you can see the breakdown by camera type below:.
Sony sensors inside the last two generations of iPhone (source: Counterpoint BoM analysis service)
Adding it all together, Sony earned an extra $6 per unit for a total of approximately $300 million in the second half of 2022. The bottom line is that Sony made 54% of total revenue for the year, up 5 points percentages compared to 2021.
Samsung LSI did well for itself, even as its revenue share contracted 1 percentage point to 29%. The company has taken advantage of high-resolution sensors and small pixel sizes (pixels smaller than 0.7µm).
The affordable 50MP sensors have proven quite popular, and Samsung has shipped around 200 million of them in 2022. These are used in the main cameras of low-end phones and the selfie cameras of more premium devices. The company still dominates the market for 100+ megapixel sensors and has shipped about 150 million units since it launched the first one.
The smartphone image sensor market contracted 6% last year compared to 2021, but total revenue remained above $13 billion. Sony and Samsung took the lion’s share, 83% in total.
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