Smartphone sensors to be $6bn business by 2016 [Report]

When you think about smartphones driving revenue your mind generally jumps straight to the devices themselves, or how mobile operators are using them to make money. Well it turns out that all the bits and pieces that go into your smartphone are big business too.

A new report from tech analysis firm Juniper Research, predicts that Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) — think sensors, audio, displays and RF — will generate over USz$6-billion in revenue by 2016.

The research firm reckons there are three different opportunity categories for MEMS:

• Current devices: including accelerometers, magnetometers & gyroscopes.
• Devices in early development: displays, RF devices, pressure sensors & microphones
• Future applications: joysticks, temperature and humidity sensors, speakers & pico-projectors.

At present, says Juniper Research, inertial sensors are driving the market in MEMS. Their adoption has mainly depended on the advanced availability and capability of gaming and navigation applications, thereby becoming ubiquitous in all mobile devices, particularly in smartphones and tablets

Juniper Research analyst Nitin Bhas reckons the competition between various manufacturers will help drive the MEMS market, especially as each tries to stand out from the others:

It is worth noting that MEMS sensors are expected to become an important differentiator for mobile device manufacturers towards enabling different capabilities and functionalities, including location-based and navigation services. There are lots of additional functionalities that smartphones and tablets will pick up over time and those capabilities have already started to appear such as stabilisation control.

The research firm reckons that one way device manufacturers will do this is with “high-quality audio input and to integrate multiple microphones into their products”.