Worldwide sales of camera phones will account for 48% of total worldwide mobile phone sales in 2006, growing to 81% by 2010, according to new forecasts from Gartner.
Worldwide sales of camera phones, which have almost tripled since 2004, will reach 460 million in 2006, an increase of 43% from 2005, says Gartner, adding that the trend looks set to continue, with sales of one billion camera phones by 2010.
In Western Europe, the largest the largest market for camera phones, sales will exceed 122 million by 2006, a 285 increase from 2005.
Carolina Milanesi, principal research analyst at Gartner, said: “In 2006, 1.3 and two mega pixel resolutions will become the minimum requirement for mid-tier to high-end phones and a 3.2 mega-pixel resolution will be used for flagship products. This will increase to five mega-pixels in 2007.”
In 2006, North America will be the second largest market in the world and will reach 106.8 million units in 2006, a 41% increase from 2005.
According to Gartner’s predictions, North America will be closely followed by Asia Pacific, where sales will total 160.7 million units in 2006.
Staying with North America, mega-pixel imaging will continue to grow, from five million units in 2005, to 45 million units in 2006.
In Japan, camera phones will account for 95% of total mobile sales in 2007, when it will reach its highest penetration level.
A recent report from Informa Telecoms and Media and strategic partner, the Mobile Entertainment Forum, said that the market for mobile communities and user generated content (UGC) will be worth $13.2 billion by 2011, with photo based services being amongst the top revenue generators (see Ofcom Plans New Public Service Channel To Rival BBC).
By 2010, Gartner predicts that Western Europe will equal Japan’s penetration levels to reach 93.6% followed very closely by North America at 93.4%.
Meanwhile, IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker said that a total of 254.9 million units were shipped in the third quarter of 2006, with market edging towards one billion units shipped for the year (see Worldwide Mobile Phone Market Sees Record Shipments).
| Sales Of Camera Phones To End Users By Region, Worldwide |
| (Thousands Of Units) |
| |
2005 |
2006 |
2010 |
CAGR 2006-2010 |
| Africa |
7,484.5 |
15,964.4 |
45,061.2 |
29.6% |
| Asia/Pacific |
67,629.1 |
106,721.4 |
395,506.5 |
38.7% |
| Eastern Europe |
15,819.3 |
26,098.0 |
70,656.9 |
28.3% |
| Japan |
42,016.5 |
45,203.8 |
44,282.8 |
-0.5% |
| Latin America |
8,646.5 |
22,547.9 |
78,406.9 |
36.6% |
| Middle East |
7,336.2 |
14,138.6 |
34,402.4 |
24.9% |
| North America |
75,746.7 |
106,832.2 |
187,160.2 |
15.0% |
| Western Europe |
95,864.2 |
122,429.9 |
166,597.3 |
8.0% |
| Total |
320,543.0 |
459,936.2 |
1,022,074.2 |
22.1% |
Source: Gartner Dataquest (October 2006)
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