Every cellphone a camera-phone soon, says Gartner

Stuart Corner
Monday, 06 November 2006 05:49

IT Industry - Deals

According to research company, Gartner Group 95 percent of cellphones sold in Japan in 2007 will have built in camera, and Europe and North America will catch up by 2010.

Gartner says that, worldwide camera phones will account for 48 percent of total worldwide mobile phone sales in 2006 and 81 percent by 2010. "Worldwide sales of camera phones, which have almost tripled since 2004, will reach 460 million in 2006, an increase of 43 percent from 2005. This trend is set to continue, leading to sales of one billion camera phones by 2010."

"A camera is a feature that consumers expect to see in new devices whether they are interested in using it or not," said Carolina Milanesi, principal research analyst at Gartner.

Gartner says that the 'megapixel race' will continue to gather pace as consumers apply the same judgement in selecting camera phones as in selecting digital cameras. "Consumers' perception that a higher pixel count translates into a higher quality device will encourage mobile phone manufacturers to continue with this drive, Milanesi said.

"In 2006, a 1.3 and two megapixel resolution will become the minimum requirement for mid-tier to high-end phones and a 3.2 megapixel resolution will be used for flagship products, and this will increase to five mega pixels in 2007."

However, although the number of megapixels remains the main criterion by which consumers chose their camera phone, other features such as flash and automatic zoom are becoming important, Gartner says.