Worldwide camera phone shipment volume likely to exceed 1 billion units in 2010

TAIWAN: According to the MIC, Taiwan, affected by the global economic downturn, the shipment volume of mobile phone brand-name vendors Nokia, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson suffered from shipment declines in 2009. As a result, worldwide full-year mobile phone shipment volume in 2009 declined 2.3 percent year-on-year to 1.25 billion units.

With the continuous falling prices of mobile phone camera modules, mobile phone vendors continued to follow their product strategies envisaging camera modules as standard items for mobile phones, shipment volume of camera phones for full-year 2009 managed to achieve a 1.2 percent year-on-year growth to 920 million units. Camera phones accounted for 74 percent of the total mobile phone shipments in 2009.

Worldwide Camera Phone Market Scale, 2009-2013Source: MIC, May 2010.

In anticipation of the global economic recovery in 2010, with demand for mobile phones in emerging markets continuing to grow, combining the emergence of replacement demand for mobile phones in mature markets, five brand-name mobile phone vendors adjusted upward their shipment forecasts for 2010.

It is anticipated that worldwide mobile phone shipment volume for the full year 2010 will total 1.32 billion units, representing a 5.9 percent year-on-year growth. With mobile phone brands continuing to increase the shipment share of their camera phones worldwide, worldwide full-year camera phone shipment volume in 2010 is expected to exceed 1 billion units, growing 11.7 percent compared to the previous year.

The share of mobile phones equipped with a camera module is forecasted to reach 78.1 percent in 2010, up from 74 percent in 2009.