One-third of mobile phones to use accelerometers by 2010

EL SEGUNDO, USA: Owing to the essential role they play in the user interfaces of hot smart phones like Apple Inc.’s iPhone and Palm Inc.’s Pre, accelerometers are expected to appear in one-third of mobile phones shipped next year, according to iSuppli Corp.

“By next year, one out of three mobile phones shipped worldwide will include an accelerometer, up from one out of five in 2009, and one out of 11 in 2008,” observed Jérémie Bouchaud, director and principal analyst, Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) for iSuppli.

“While few consumers know what accelerometers are, they do know that when they turn their iPhones to the side, their screens automatically adjust from portrait to landscape view, or that when they shake their handsets they can roll a pair of virtual dice in a game of chance.

With their capability to detect and measure motion, accelerometers are the critical enablers of these features, which are an essential element of what makes these smart phones so popular. These capabilities now are spreading beyond smart phones to other types of handsets.”

Fig. 1 presents iSuppli’s forecast of global accelerometer penetration in all types of mobile phones.

iSuppli Fig. 1: Global Penetration of Accelerometers in All Types of Mobile Phones (Percentage of Total Mobile Phone Shipments)Source: iSuppli, July 2009

Beyond game play and screen orientation, the most popular uses for 3-axis MEMS accelerometer motion sensors in phones include power management and shake modes for control of tracks in music phones, context awareness and pedometers.

iSuppli’s teardown analysis of the iPhone 3G S revealed the use of a 3-axis MEMS accelerometer from STMicroelectronics. Beyond the features mentioned above, the STMicroelectronics part works with the new iPhone’s digital compass to orient maps to whatever direction a user is facing.

In the teardown of the Palm Pre, iSuppli identified a Kionix Inc. MEMS accelerometer and inclinometer.

Looking specifically at the top mobile-phone OEMs, 38 percent of new Nokia handsets platforms have integrated motion-sensing accelerometers since January. Sony Ericsson had the highest penetration of accelerometers, with 18 out of 19 new phones models introduced this year. Samsung and LG also are offering new phones with 3-axis accelerometers.

iSuppli annually tracks the features of more than 1,000 mobile phones from 32 manufacturers—accounting for 99 percent of total cell phone shipments. Since January 1, of the several hundred phones already introduced, 18.3 percent of the models integrated an accelerometer. iSuppli expects the penetration of accelerometers in new models to rise in the second half of 2009.

Partly because of the rapid rise in accelerometer adoption, as well as the use of other MEMS, the market for microelectromechanical sensors for mobile phones is expected to more than triple from 2008 to 2013. Global revenue from sales of MEMS for mobile phones will rise to $1.6 billion in 2013, up from $460.9 million in 2008.

Beyond accelerometers, other MEMS devices already used in mobile phones include microphones, BAW duplexers and filters, MEMS autofocus actuators, pressure sensors and even MEMS pico-projectors. MEMS gyroscopes will join the fray in early 2010.

Fig. 2 attached presents iSuppli’s forecast of global MEMS revenue derived from mobile handsets.

iSuppli Fig. 2: Worldwide Forecast of Sales of MEMS for Use in Mobile Phones (Revenue in Millions of US Dollars)Source: iSuppli, July 2009

Acceleration/yaw sensors may be down, but not for long

USA: After punching through the $1 billion barrier in 2008, the market for MEMS-based acceleration and yaw sensors will suffer its first significant decline ever this year, but a recovery is expected to start in the second half of 2009, and sales are forecast to set a new record-high of $1.3 billion in 2011, according to IC Insights' new 2009 Optoelectronics, Sensors, and Discretes (O-S-D) Report.

Like all other semiconductor categories, acceleration and yaw sensors—including accelerometers and gyroscope chips—are feeling the effects of the economic recession that began in 2008.

Sales in the acceleration/yaw sensor category are expected to fall 19 percent to $861 million in 2009 after growing 23 percent in 2008 to a record-high $1.07 billion. IC Insights' new O-S-D Report shows acceleration/yaw sensors became the largest semiconductor sensor category in 2008, surpassing magnetic-field sensors (which totaled $1.02 billion) for the first time ever due to strong growth in low-cost accelerometers used in cell phones, video-game controllers, and new portable systems.

Between 2008 and 2013, worldwide revenues for acceleration and yaw sensors are projected to increase at a CAGR of 11.1 percent compared to 8 percent for the entire semiconductor market, based on the 2009 O-S-D Report's five-year forecast.

IC Insights expects acceleration/yaw sensor sales to hit $1.81 billion in 2013 with unit shipments reaching 1.43 billion worldwide.

In recent years, the acceleration/yaw sensor business has been transformed from a product category dominated by automotive safety applications to a high-volume chip market now driven by portable systems and consumer electronics.

In multimedia smartphones —- such as Apple's iPhone and many new look-alike 3G handsets -- low-cost 3-axis accelerometers are being used to determine how phones are being held so that touch-screen displays can automatically rotate images into portrait (vertical) or landscape (horizontal) modes.

A growing number of accelerometers are being used in new portable "dead-reckoning" navigation systems, which calculate their locations from measurements of movements. Inertial sensors are also providing drop detection/protection in notebook computers, cameras, and other portable products, and they are working their way into motion-control and gesture-recognition applications in interactive video games and consumer products.

Overall, worldwide sales of all semiconductor sensors—including pressure and magnetic-field sensors—are expected to rise at a CAGR of 7.6 percent in the five-year forecast period, reaching $3.9 billion in 2013, according to the 2009 O-S-D Report. Revenues for sensors built with microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology—mostly pressure sensors and acceleration/yaw devices—are forecast to reach $2.4 billion in 2013, representing a CAGR of 9.1 percent in the 2008-2013 forecast period of the IC Insights report.

Source: IC Insights