CMOS Image Sensor Industry
Sony Extends its Leading Position as China Overtakes South Korea
Sony accounted for almost half of global CMOS image sensor revenue in 2025; Chinese suppliers have become the industry’s second-largest CMOS image sensor supplier base after Japan; and the AI-driven memory upcycle opens a new supply-chain risk for imaging – according to Yole Group.
Against this backdrop, Yole Group, a market research and strategy consulting company, releases its latest report, Status of the CIS Industry 2026, which offers a comprehensive analysis of the market, technology, and ecosystem trends shaping the CMOS Image Sensor industry’s future, including revenue, shipments, ASP, and wafer production forecasts through 2031.
Sony accounted for around 50 percent of global CMOS image sensor revenue in 2025, gaining significant share and moving closer to its long-standing leadership target.
This performance was mainly driven by premium mobile imaging, Apple-related demand, larger optical formats, higher-resolution sensors, and advanced stacked architectures.
Samsung remains the second-largest CMOS image sensor supplier, but its revenue is broadly stagnant, reflecting stronger competition from Sony in premium smartphones and from Chinese suppliers in mid- and low-end segments.
Omnivision confirmed its growth with double-digit gains, while SmartSens posted the strongest momentum among major players, supported by expansion in mobile, security, automotive, and consumer applications.
In contrast, onsemi declined amid increasing competition in the automotive market, and SK Hynix continued to reduce its CMOS image sensor focus, redirecting resources toward its core memory business.
China has become the second-largest CMOS image sensor supplier base after Japan, surpassing South Korea in the global revenue ranking, confirming the trend anticipated in last year’s report: Sony and Chinese CMOS image sensor players are gaining share, while Korean and some Western players are losing. China’s rise is supported by Omnivision, SmartSens, GalaxyCore, and Gpixel, which benefit from strong domestic demand in smartphones, security, automotive, drones, robotics, AIoT, and smart home applications.
In mobile, Sony dominates with 57 percent market share, far ahead of Samsung, while Omnivision, SmartSens, GalaxyCore, and STMicroelectronics address specific mobile and sensing opportunities. In productivity, Sony remains the leader, though growth is limited following the post-Covid normalization of PCs, tablets, and webcams.
Consumer photography remains highly concentrated around Sony and Canon, while Omnivision, GalaxyCore, SmartSens, Samsung, and Himax lead in smart IoT. This dedicated ecosystem and the strategies of each player reveal the importance of cost competitiveness, compact form factor, and Chinese OEM exposure. In security, SmartSens and Omnivision lead a highly fragmented market driven by multi-camera deployments. Finally, in industrial, Sony remains dominant, while onsemi, Teledyne, Gpixel, and Hamamatsu maintain strong positions in high-performance, long-lifecycle applications.
On the other hand, some challenges might arise. AI-driven demand for HBM and advanced DRAM is tightening memory supply and pushing memory prices higher, while memory makers prioritize higher-margin opportunities. This can indirectly affect the CMOS image sensor business through wafer allocation, logic/memory cost, stacked architectures, buffers, and camera-module roadmaps.
Understanding where the next growth segments and the next supply-chain risks lie has never been more critical for device manufacturers, investors, and technology providers. The Status of the CMOS image sensor industry 2026 report from Yole Group provides the market intelligence and technology insights required to navigate this rapidly evolving landscape.
Anas Chalak, Market & Technology Analyst Imaging at Yole Group.
“China’s rise is not only market-driven but also supply-chain-driven”, said Anas Chalak, Market & Technology Analyst Imaging at Yole Group. “Indeed, Chinese CMOS image sensor suppliers increasingly combine domestic foundry access, international manufacturing routes, and stronger links with local camera module players to improve cost, qualification, and time-to-market.”
