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30 Jul 2025
Analysts at Yole Group now predict $30BN global market by 2030 as smart phone and automotive deployments push sales.
A renewed period of demand growth for CMOS imaging sensors is set to drive the global market to a value of $30 billion by 2030.
That prediction comes from analysts at the France-based technology consultancy Yole Group, who say that a rebound in smart phone sales - by far the leading application for such devices - alongside new use cases in automotive and security settings will prompt a significant uptick in momentum.
Florian Domengie and colleagues suggest in their new Status of the CMOS Image Sensor Industry 2025 report that the global market had somewhat stagnated over the past few years before jumping 6.4 per cent in 2024 to reach $23.2 billion - driven by higher smart phone sales.
“This percentage marked an acceleration from the 2.3 per cent growth between 2022 and 2023,” they noted. “Yole Group forecasts this upward trend to continue into 2025, supported by momentum in mobile, automotive, and security applications.”
Three years ago the same analyst team had predicted that the sector would top $31 billion by 2027, but the imminent growth cycle anticipated at that time appears to have been delayed.
Sony still leads
While smart phones continue to represent more than 60 per cent of the global market for CMOS imaging sensors, the Yole figures suggest that the automotive and security sectors are becoming more significant each year.
“Automotive imaging is growing rapidly, driven by expanding ADAS [advanced driver assistance systems], in-cabin monitoring, and surround-view applications,” states the team.
Another Yole report, this time covering the camera module industry, suggests that some 6.57 billion modules were shipped in 2023, again mostly for smart phones but with the automotive total reaching 236 million - and averaging close to three cameras per vehicle.
The Yole team also highlighted two technological trends in the sector, suggesting that optical metasurfaces and neuromorphic sensing - where "brain-like" imaging sensors respond to event-based changes in the field of view rather than provide constant monitoring - are poised to enhance use cases.
In terms of the competitive landscape, Sony remains the market leader but faces growing competition from Chinese providers including Omnivision, SmartSens, and Gpixel.
While Sony grew its market share slightly last year, SmartSens managed to double its sales revenues as it penetrated all the key application sectors and climbed in global rankings, Yole reported.
Mature nodes
Part of the reason for that is the relatively small impact that geopolitical tensions have had on this particular market, because CMOS image sensors rely on mature semiconductor technology nodes that are not targeted by export restrictions.
Chinese producers have also adopted hybrid strategies to ensure supply-chain stability, with Yole citing examples like SmartSens collaborating with both domestic and international foundries like TSMC and Samsung.
“These strategies allow Chinese players to scale efficiently, reduce risk, and meet local demand across smart phones, surveillance, and automotive”, explains Domengie.
Yole’s figures suggest that manufacturers in mainland China accounted for 19 per cent of the CMOS imaging sensor market last year, with a further 1 per cent originating in Taiwan.
That compares with 48 per cent for Japan, where Sony is joined by Hamamatsu Photonics and Canon, and 21 per cent for Korea, where Samsung dominates and SK Hynix is retrenching away from imaging sensors.
As fast as 2025 is concerned Sony, Omnivision, and SmartSens are projected to grow their revenues, while US and European players - currently worth just 5 per cent and 6 per cent of the global market respectively - may continue losing ground.
• Yole’s “Status of the CMOS Image Sensor Industry 2025” report is available now.
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