Mobile sensors to be worth $6bn by 2016 [Report]

Micro Electronic Mechanical Systems (MEMS) are crucial pieces of equipment in our smartphones and tablets. You might take them for granted, or might not even know what they are, but 4-billion are set to be built into our mobile devices by 2016.

MEMS include accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers and others such as pressure, humidity, and temperature sensors — some of which are crucial to the Augmented Reality and Location-based services found in so many of today’s devices.

Thing is, those 4-billion sensors aren’t going to come from nowhere and tech analysis company Juniper Research reckons they represent a massive business opportunity.

The company says that annual revenues generated by MEMS devices built into mobile devices including sensors, audio, displays and RF will exceed US$6-billion by 2016.

In order to make the most of this opportunity, however, businesses will have to meet falling prices with guaranteed volumes stock.

According to Juniper Research’s Nitin Bhas:

MEMS sensors, especially accelerometers and gyroscopes have experienced a dramatic reduction in price over the past few years. Increasingly Vendors need to create or add value to their products by incorporating more functions into a single MEMS device, thereby further reducing size, complexity, and cost.

The company also cautions that the boom in sensor-style MEMS won’t last forever, and that the devices will witness a declining revenue share in the market (reaching 60% in 2016), as other categories including Audio & RF begin to contribute towards the total.