U.S. market research firm Grand View Research (hereinafter referred to as "GVR") recently released a research report shows that the global image sensor market is expected to grow steadily at a rate of 6.7% from 2014 to 2020.
The report says the global image sensor market is expected to reach $12.028 billion by 2020. Image sensors are mainly used in camera phones and tablet PCs, and with the gradual increase in demand for such products, the image sensor market is set to maintain rapid growth. The demand for image sensors in industrial, automotive and medical applications will also rise significantly in the coming years.
With the increasing focus on minimally invasive surgeries, medical applications are also expected to rapidly drive the market growth of image sensors. The development of Backside Illumination (BI) technology is also helping to boost the demand for CMOS image sensors. However, the unit price of image sensors is expected to show a continuous downward trend. Due to high power consumption and other issues, CCD image sensors will further shrink in the global market.
"Image Sensors Market Analysis And Segment Forecasts To 2020" report has been made available to GVR users and further research on the report has revealed:
- Global image sensor shipments were 1,798 million units in 2012 and are expected to reach 3,009 million units in 2020, growing at a CAGR of 6.7% from 2014 to 2020.
- CMOS image sensors have many advantages over CCD devices, including image quality. As a result, CMOS image sensor shipments accounted for 83.21 TP3T of the total market from 2012 and are expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.41 TP3T from 2014 to 2020.
- From 2014 to 2020, shipments of image sensors in medical applications will grow at a CAGR of 9.2%, which is expected to be the fastest growing application area.
- Asia Pacific will be the largest and fastest growing market for image sensors. Asia Pacific accounted for 35.91 TP3T of global shipments in 2012 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.41 TP3T from 2014 to 2020. This is mainly attributed to the high demand for consumer electronics products in the Asia Pacific region. In addition to smartphones, the number of first-time buyers of products such as compact cameras and digital SLR cameras is also significant, which will greatly increase the demand for image sensors.
- Major global sensor suppliers include Sony, Aptina Imaging, OmniVision, Canon, STMicroelectronics, Teledyne DALSA and Samsung Electronics.
The following chart shows the global sales statistics of CMOS image sensors by application in 2013:
