The South Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics has narrowed the CMOS Image Sensor (CIS) market share gap with Sony by a few points. According to a recent report from Yole Development, Samsung is gaining momentum in the CIS industry.
The Japanese electronics maker Sony ended 2020 with a 40% market share in the CIS market, 2% lower than 2019. Meanwhile, Samsung witnessed an increase of 1% in its market share from 21% in 2019. In 2020, Samsung held a 22% market share in the CIS industry.
The Yole Development report (via Elec) also shows that Samsung had a 13% growth YoY in sales, whereas Sony didn’t witness any loss or gain in CMOS Image Sensors (CIS) sales. Samsung started manufacturing image sensors back in 2002 with a less than 20% market share until 2018.
Omnivision secured the third spot with a 12% market share. To note, Omnivision used to rank above Samsung at the second spot up until 2014. Yole Research suggests that Samsung’s expertise in designing and manufacturing CIS helped expand its reach and significantly grew sales and market share, now becoming the second-largest CMOS maker.
Meanwhile, Sony posted revenue of 1.01 trillion Yen in 2020, a 5% loss from 2019. The research firm indicates that the loss was due to Huawei halting its smartphone business due to US sanctions. However, Sony confirmed a sales increase in CIS for digital cameras in a recent conference call, but CIS sales for smartphones are dropping due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Japanese electronics maker is planning to increase its production volume. In April, the company started operating its new plant in Nagasaki, and now Sony is planning to build an additional plant to manufacture smartphone CMOS Image Sensors. The company is aiming for a 60% market share by 2025. Meanwhile, Samsung is preparing to expand to the automotive sector with the ISOCELL Auto 4AC image sensor.
As per the Yole Development report, the CIS industry posted a collective worth of US$20.7 billion, with smartphones and consumer products accounting for 72% of the total market worth. According to the forecast from the research firm, the CIS market is expected to be worth USD 31.5 billion by the end of 2026.
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