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THE MARKET for audio ICs, sensors and distributed processing will continue to be driven by the smartphone market, SAR Insight & Consulting has found.
In its report, titled “Audio ICs, Sensors and Distributed Processing in Mobile Devices: Audio Amplifiers, Audio CODECs, Audio Processors, MEMS Microphones, Motion Sensors – Stand Alone ICs, Integration Trends & Distributed Processing”, the research firm examined the current market trends, and forecast the likely growth of each market sector, with a major focus on IC integration trends.
According to Principal Analyst Peter Cooney, the mobile device market (which also covers tablets, smartwatches, mobile speakers and wireless headsets) continues to be a prime area of growth for audio ICs and motion sensor suppliers.
“In 2015 the total market was estimated to have grown to more than $7 billion and is forecast to reach $10 billion by 2019,” Mr Cooney said.
New functionality, like ‘always on’ voice control and high resolution audio, needs increasingly more sophisticated and higher quality audio ICs, which is helping to drive growth with more than nine billion audio ICs expected to ship in 2020.
Additionally, the high end, mid tier and low end sectors of the mobile market each places different demands on suppliers, and will also experience very different trajectories of growth.
“High-end smartphone shipments are expected to see only modest growth from 2015 to 2017 then fall slightly to 2020 as low to mid-tier phones increase in performance and functionality and meet the demands of many users,” Mr Cooney explained.
“However, the high end smartphone segment will continue to be very important for audio IC and motion sensor vendors as this will continue to be a major user of standalone components and driver of technology advances.”