[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi]#. Children's running race scene. The referee blows the whistle, and the race begins. The mother holding a smartphone next to the running child has a determined expression. 'Action mode' starts. The mother begins running alongside her son, adjusting the camera angle to him to capture his running on video. The shaky camera, yet stable footage. New smartphone ads focus on camera features they want to emphasize.
The IT industry is flooding the market with advertisements focusing on the 'camera' function rather than the 'phone' whenever a new smartphone model is released. Not only the iPhone 14 series equipped with action mode to prevent shaking but also the Galaxy S23 Ultra focuses on the camera. The Galaxy S23 Ultra highlights its 200-megapixel camera function and its ability to capture subjects clearly even in motion as its strengths. The more intense the competition for new smartphone products becomes, the faster the high-specification camera module development progresses. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, left a comment saying "Wow" on a review video of the Galaxy S23 Ultra zooming in 100 times on the full moon, drawing attention to the camera performance.
LG Innotek and Samsung Electro-Mechanics, which operate camera module (components assembled from actuators, lenses, and image sensors) businesses, are focusing their technology development on improving video quality and shake correction performance in line with the trend of high-specification camera modules demanded by their customers. The technology LG Innotek chose for stable video shooting without shaking in any environment is 'sensor-shift.'
Sensor-shift reduces the weight of the moving part by more than 30% by moving the sensor instead of the lens when correcting hand tremors. Because the moving part is lighter, it moves and responds faster, allowing smartphone users to shoot more stable and higher-quality photos and videos.
LG Innotek had only applied the method of correcting hand tremors by moving heavy lenses but has been expanding the application of its own technology, the 'sensor-shift' method that moves the sensor itself, since 2020. The frequency increases as the vibration (tremor) becomes stronger; generally, the frequency of human hand tremors is 2?6 Hz, and when riding a mountain bike with stronger tremors, the frequency is about 10 Hz. The sensor-shift method can correct upper tremors even in the high-frequency range of 20?30 Hz (when accelerating a vehicle at 60 km/h). This means stable video shooting is possible while riding in a car.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics applied the ball guide method to its camera module products. The ball guide method moves the barrel surrounding the lens by rolling balls, enabling AF (autofocus function that moves the lens to the optimal focus position) and OIS (function that detects hand tremors and corrects the lens position) operation of the heavier lens components. It has excellent driving speed and accuracy, which is also advantageous in reducing battery consumption. Additionally, it improved productivity by minimizing processes and minimized failure modes.
However, the camera market is at a mature stage, growing only at an average annual rate of 1.2% from $21.9 billion in 2022 to about $23.3 billion in 2027, which poses a challenge for the two component companies engaged in the camera module business. Although camera modules are rapidly evolving, the smartphone camera module market itself is already saturated.
The breakthrough lies in the automotive parts business, which uses more cameras than smartphones. The fact that domestic component companies have smartphone camera module technology and have secured global customers means they can once again take a gamble in the automotive camera module market, where high reliability is required. Since cameras must accurately detect objects even while the car is moving, high resolution and shake correction functions are essential in the automotive business.
No Geun-chang, a researcher at Hyundai Motor Securities, said, "In the case of LG Innotek, sales of automotive camera modules account for only 2.6% of the total optical solutions division, which is low, but it is expected to increase its share through expanding automotive supply lines," and added, "Sales will take a step forward starting in 2024, when sales to automotive customers in North America increase."
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