Sony continues to expand its CMOS image sensor (CIS) production capacity and is set to develop 5D CIS solutions for both high-end smartphone and automotive applications that are promising bright demand prospects.
Sony Semiconductor Solutions (SSS) president and CEO Terushi Shimizu has stated that the CIS demand for multi-camera smartphones has become saturated, but the trend of moving toward the development of larger-size CIS devices remains unchanged, which will drive up both CIS unit prices and overall revenues. He stressed that the trend will persist even though global smartphone shipments have slipped from 1.4 billion units to 1.2 billion or lower.
Against the sluggish sales of low-end and midrange handsets, premium smartphones are still selling well. In light of this, Shimizu remarked that the key to continued sales expansion for high-end handsets lies in the value of CIS.
If CIS cannot enhance the value of smartphones, its sales will hit snags, Shimizu said, stressing that brand handset vendors will continue to look to CIS advancement for bolstering their sales growth in the next decade.
Furthermore, smartphone CIS is evolving from 4D to 5D. Usually, 2D refers to 2D imaging, 3D adds depth information such as ToF (time of flight) solution, 4D incorporates time, and 5D includes spectral wavelength information, according to industry sources.
The sources said 4D adopts the newly developed event-based vision sensor (EVS) technology to improve video performance by eliminating latency and blurring with high-speed reading. The EVS combines with RGB sensors to enhance the image quality of smartphone cameras, the sources noted, disclosing that Sony is slated to roll out samples of 4D sensors by 2025.
As to 5D sensing solutions, they incorporate wavelength as an additional element, utilizing polarization image sensor, low-light RGB and near-infrared (NIR) capabilities to achieve excellent shooting results even in dark environments, the sources said.
The 5D sensing technology can also be used in automotive applications in addition to smartphone cameras. When combined with cameras and in-vehicle LiDAR systems, it can accurately detect the surroundings of vehicles even in rainy and nighttime conditions, the sources remarked.
Sony's automotive CIS sales doubled in fiscal 2022 (April 2022-March 2023) from a year earlier, and are likely to double again in fiscal 2023, according to Shimizu's estimate.
Industry observers said that the advantages of Sony's automotive CIS technology are mainly focused on improving the dynamic range and reducing screen flicker, especially in sensors adopted for ADAS systems and sensors for rearview cameras. Riding on these advantages, they added, Sony has seen its sales revenues from automotive CIS offerings increase substantially.
Article translated by Willis Ke
