• Chinese OEMs are introducing their premium products in SEA, with a focus on industry-leading camera specifications and pro-level imaging experience.
• During the past decade, Chinese OEMs have heavily invested in camera development and enhancements.
• To establish differentiated competitiveness and push the limits of mobile imaging experience, tie-ups between smartphone OEMs and classic camera brands are becoming popular.

Global smartphone sales increased 5.4% YoY in the first half of 2024, with the high-end segment (wholesale price >$600) outperforming the overall market again by registering 10.6% YoY growth, according to Counterpoint’s Market Pulse service. The trend of premiumization is spreading quickly from developed markets to emerging markets such as Southeast Asia (SEA), where the premium segment grew 13% YoY in the same period.

By closely tracking the consumers’ evolving needs and preferences, Chinese OEMs managed to maintain growth in regions like SEA. For instance, vivo’s strong product capabilities, especially the competitive camera performance and successful local operation in SEA have boosted the brand’s growth and returned it to the global top five in Q3 2024.

Source: Counterpoint Global Smartphone Market Pulse

Chinese OEMs are introducing their premium products in SEA, with a focus on industry-leading camera specifications and pro-level imaging experience to cater to some of the key purchase triggers of the region’s consumers.

During the past decade, Chinese OEMs have heavily invested in camera development and enhancements. Each generation of the multiple-lens camera system has seen increases in image sensor sizes and megapixel counts, having successfully commercialized the rear design featuring the 1-inch camera and 300MP resolution. Chinese OEMs are also at the forefront of advancing the periscope and image stabilization technologies and pushing the implementation of the telephoto camera for the mass market. Smartphone cameras built on user-oriented innovations by Chinese OEMs are becoming a major differentiating factor in the SEA smartphone market.

Evolving multi-lens trend

According to Counterpoint’s Smartphone Camera Tracker, the proportion of smartphones featuring three or more cameras has been above 50% since 2020, while the share of triple setups consisting of the auxiliary ultrawide and telephoto (including periscope) lenses continues to increase, currently representing more than 20% of the total market.

Source: Counterpoint Global Smartphone Camera Tracker

Thanks to the smooth switching between multiple lenses, the smartphone can capture delicate landscapes and portraits at any distance, just like what a DSLR camera can do. Besides, the addition of a telephoto or periscope lens not only allows users to zoom in on a scene or a specific subject to get more details but also significantly enhances the portrait imaging experience by providing various good portrait focal lengths. For instance, the newly released vivo V40 Pro has introduced ZEISS Multifocal Portrait, which supports 1x (24 mm), 1.5x (35 mm), 2x (50 mm), 3.5x (85 mm) and 4x (100 mm) zooming in the portrait mode, the distinctive feature was further enhanced by the support of 5.8x (135mm) in the vivo X200 Pro, providing a stronger sense of space compression, and each focal length can bring about unique atmosphere and style.

OIS is also gaining more importance as a smartphone camera designed to deliver professional videography. With the support of 3-axis shake compensation, the OIS camera can generate sharper photos and smoother videos. The technology is a must in a motion scene, time-lapse photography and night photography when merging multiple frames.

In addition to the traditional lens-shift stabilization, there has been an increasing adoption of sensor-shift and module-shift solutions in flagship smartphones. vivo has a long history of exploring more advanced OIS designs. In 2020, the vivo X50 pro introduced a unique camera gimbal stabilization mechanism. In the vivo X100 ultra, its top-class camera flagship smartphone, vivo paired the industry’s first 200MP periscope camera with an innovative floating lens OIS, enabling users to shoot high-quality 4K videos at long distances with ease.

Source: Counterpoint Global Smartphone Camera Tracker

Enhancement of image performance in a variety of scenarios

With a well-designed OIS, a smartphone camera can also perform well in a low-light environment, proving to be an essential complement to large-size image sensors. With the launch of the Aquos R6 in 2021, Sharp introduced the first 1-inch smartphone camera. Later, OEMs started to differentiate their top-class smartphones by leveraging the 1-inch image sensors, including the IMX989 and LYT900. Thanks to the larger pixel size, the 1-inch camera can take in more light, thus delivering greater HDR performance. This trend is in line with the promise of smartphone cameras to record what we see with authenticity and in great detail. However, due to footprint and space constraints, OEMs are also actively adopting innovative image sensors such as the Sony LYT-818, featuring HDR enhancement to address the low-light challenge, while taking the video performance to a new height.

Source: Counterpoint Global Smartphone Sales Tracker

Deep collaboration with classic camera brands

To establish differentiated competitiveness and push the limits of mobile imaging experience, tie-ups between smartphone OEMs and classic optics or camera brands are becoming popular. The collective expertise in imaging algorithms, camera and optics design, and photography aesthetics is utilized to give unprecedented imaging experience. A great example is how vivo delivers the impressive ZEISS style landscape portrait photo from the professional camera lens. Photographers can rely on vivo’s telephoto cameras to create portrait photos and videos in a wide variety of styles.

Photo: Shot on vivo X200 Pro at 135mm focal length.

Conclusion

The smartphone camera race has reached a new stage. Videography is being elevated to the same importance as photography. Besides, Chinese OEMs have brought about more exciting features, such as the capability to shoot moonlit and sunset landscapes and capture close-up portraits in concerts or sports venues. These user-centric innovations not only address photographers’ pain points but also allow them to obtain pro-level imaging effects earlier exclusive to premium digital cameras.

After experiencing a state-of-the-art imaging system, smartphone users will be more confident in using smartphone cameras in their daily lives instead of carrying bulky digital cameras everywhere. The ability to directly share these high-quality pictures on social platforms comes as a big bonus.

Looking ahead, the smartphone camera race will continue, with camera performance remaining a key driver of smartphone replacement. Advances in the abovementioned aspects will keep transforming the mobile imaging experience.