More phone pixels for your money
Korea handset makers are rolling out new high-end models armed with 1.3 million-pixel built-in cameras, a move that is expected to deal a blow to the low-end digital-camera market.
Local handset manufacturers have so far been stuck with 300,000-pixel camera phones, largely because they could not secure core camera components, known as charge-coupled devices, needed for the high-resolution camera phones.
In the meantime, Japanese rivals like NEC and Panasonic have already commercialized 1.3 million-pixel camera phones as they have core the CCD technologies needed.
However, the trend is about to change as Samsung Electronics, the world's third-largest mobile phone maker, and Pantech & Curitel, a major handset producer in Korea, will both introduce 1.3 million-pixel models.
Samsung - which is fast catching up with Nokia, the world's leading phone maker, and Motorola, ranked second - said it would introduce the SCH-V420, the first local 1.3 million-pixel model, this week.
The model can even take photos of name cards at close range, boosting the photography capability of the phone to a level similar to mainstream digital cameras.
The phone can also record live images for up to 130 minutes, doubling as a camcorder handset. To accommodate a larger amount of data, it supports an external memory slot.
Pantech & Curitel said it would unveil the PG-S5000, a 1.3 million-pixel camera phone, today. It is unknown when the handset will be available to consumers.
The model incorporates a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor, or CMOS, which utilizes integrated circuits that are designed to digitalize visual images efficiently. Unlike other solutions, CMOS consumes less electricity and sports a smaller size, fitting in well with high-end handsets, Pantech & Curitel said.
The clamshell-type handset also comes with dual screens that can display up to 260,000 colors, while offering a built-in flash. The company said the handset's price would be around 400,000 won ($348).
LG Electronics, a rival to Samsung, said it would introduce similar high-end camera-phone models by the end of the year.
It was in April last year when domestic handset makers first dipped their toes into the camera-phone market with 110,000-pixel models.
The latest models developed by Samsung and Pantech & Curitel mean that the camera technology of mobile phones in Korea has shot up dramatically in the past 18 months.
Local manufacturers said the gap with Japanese camera-phone makers has narrowed from one year to about six months. Samsung and Pantech & Curitel argued that some advanced functions of their phones, except for the CCD lens, are better than those of their Japanese rivals.
According to research firm Strategy Analytics, Samsung accounted for a 7.4 percent share of the global camera-phone market in September, taking the No. 5 spot.
Pantech & Curitel secured a 2-percent market share, settling into the No. 13 slot in the global market.
About 65 million camera phones are expected to be sold worldwide this year, outstripping the digital-camera market, whose sales are forecast to reach just 42 million units.
Analysts already pointed out the possibility that the fast growth of mobile phones with reliable digital photography features might erode the existing digital-camera market.
Korea's major handset makers are now preparing for more advanced models like 2-million-pixel camera phones, which are likely to debut in the domestic market in the first half of next year.
By Yang Sung-jin
(insight@heraldm.com)
Oder wer von euch achtet schon bei Mobilfunkzubehör darauf, daß es "Color coordinated" ist ("Style Packs")? 