BOISE, Idaho – Betting consumers will increasingly choose high-resolution cell phone cameras over stand-alone digital cameras, Micron Technology Inc. is introducing two new memory chips that deliver image quality in cell phone snapshots up to 5 megapixels, on par with cameras used by most consumers.
The Boise-based company said Tuesday that a new 3.1-megapixel high-resolution chip will be in some U.S. cell phone handsets later this year, while a 5-megapixel version would likely debut by the second quarter of next year. The company declined to identify which manufacturers were considering using the new chips, but the popular Motorola Moto Razr V3 phone currently uses Micron image sensors for its camera feature.
While high-end cell phone cameras in Japan, Singapore and Korea can capture images up to 8 megapixels, those available in the U.S. use 1.3 megapixels or less. A megapixel equals approximately 1 million pixels, or dots of light that make up the overall image.
Micron is seeking to capture more of the emerging demand for very small chips that allow high-resolution photo capacity in consumer and commercial devices.
“In the digital still camera world, the disadvantage is less critical, but in camera phones the challenge is to have higher resolution and keep things small,” Farhad Rostamian, director of mobile and wireless for Micron’s Imaging Group in Pasadena, Calif., said Monday. “This is a very fast-growing part of our business and we expect that trend to continue.”
Micron’s third quarter sales this year were $1.05 billion, compared to $1.12 billion in the same period last year, a change the company blamed on declining prices and stiffer Asian competition for its memory chips.
Ron Glaz, a digital imaging analyst with the information technology consulting group IDC in Framingham, Mass., said Micron’s push into the image sensor chip market is a natural evolution of the company’s business of fabricating memory chips used in desktop and laptop PCs and other devices.
“Look at the last space shuttle flight with all the imaging that was used, cars are going to have image sensors all over the place and we expect the demand to grow in the camera sector as the need for security increases,” Glaz said.
But some analysts question whether high-end camera phones will eat into the consumer market for digital still cameras.
“Camera phones seem to be an instance where consumers have their first experience with digital photography, leading them to purchase digital still cameras,” said Jon Erensen, semiconductor research analyst for Gartner, Inc., in Stamford, Conn.
Micron is producing the new image sensor chips at its fabrication plant in Boise as well as its manufacturing facility in East Kilbride, Scotland. The company has operations in 18 countries with more than 18,000 employees worldwide, and is Idaho’s largest employer with 10,000 employees.
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