The business of making a smartphone more aware of its surroundings is set to explode.
According to a new report from IHS Technology, Apple and Samsung are the catalysts for a three-fold growth in smartphone and tablet sensors between 2012 and 2018.
IHS estimates that worldwide market revenue for sensors used in mobile handsets and media tablets will rise to $6.5 billion in 2018, up from $2.3 billion in 2012. The fastest-expanding portion of the mobile sensor segment will be emerging devices, whose revenue will surge to $2.3 billion in 2018, up from just $24 million in 2012. In 2013, this segment posted dramatic growth, with revenue rising to more than $500 million.
Marwan Boustany, IHS senior analyst for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and sensors, said that the next wave of sensor technology has arrived.
“Led by Apple and Samsung, the mobile market is moving beyond simply integrating established devices like motion sensors and now is including next-generation features like fingerprint and environment/health sensors,” Boustany said. “Adoption of these newer devices will drive the expansion of the mobile sensor device market in the coming years.”
Sensors for mobile devices include motion sensors, light sensors and MEMS microphones, while emerging sensors consist of new devices including fingerprint, optical pulse, humidity, gas, ultraviolet (UV) and thermal imaging.
Apple’s inclusion of Touch ID in the iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 is obviously a big driver in the Emerging space.
“Fingerprint sensors have arrived in force. IHS forecasts that shipments of fingerprint-enabled devices will reach 1.4 billion units in 2020,” Boustany said. “This is more than four times the 317 million units expected to be shipped by the end of 2014.”
New devices with fingerprint sensors also include Samsung’s Galaxy S5, as well Huawei’s flagship and the Ascend Mate 7, both of which began shipping in 2014.
The report notes that Samsung has led the way in including environmental and health sensors in its flagship models. Samsung rolled out a humidity sensor in the Galaxy S4, a pulse sensor in the Galaxy S5 and a UV sensor in the Note 4.
