Camera phone sales hit one billion

London: Mobile phones equipped with cameras will pass the 1 billion-unit shipment mark for the first time this year, with the highest resolution models rising the fastest, market research firm Strategy Analytics said.

Phones offering eight megapixels and higher are expected to increase 240% this year compared with 21% unit growth for the camera-phone category as a whole, London-based analyst Neil Mawston said in the report.

Worldwide camera-phone shipments are predicted to reach 1.14bn units, or 74% of all handsets sold, the analysts said. The earthquake and tsunami in Japan will cause a “moderate slowdown” in camera-phone supply for the next three to 12 months, Mawston said.

“Mobile phone manufacturers and component makers want to strengthen their prices with more advanced features,” Mawston said.

“Mobile operators hope advanced camera features will eventually drive additional usage of advanced services like augmented reality, while affluent consumers are demanding improved camera quality for capturing richer photos and videos.”