Frost & Sullivan releases the 'White Paper on the Global Smart Handheld Imaging Device Market Development 2023'

A handheld intelligent imaging device refers to an imaging device that has computing processing capabilities and can be used handheld. It evolved from traditional imaging devices and is a product of the integration of traditional imaging devices with computer technology, data processing technology, sensor technology, network communication technology, power electronics technology, etc.Mainly includes shooting equipment such as panoramic cameras and action cameras.

Among them, sports cameras have become a popular product in recent years due to their convenient features such as being able to be fixed on selfie sticks or certain parts of the body, helmets, skateboards, bicycle handles, etc., which can meet the needs of shooting first-person perspective sports scenes. Compared to traditional cameras, sports cameras have a wider shooting angle and higher requirements for performance such as shock resistance, waterproofing, dust resistance, heat resistance, and drop resistance.

Specifically, action cameras can be divided into consumer-grade and professional-grade products.includingConsumer-level sports cameraTo meet the needs of ordinary people for outdoor photography, products are usually convenient to carry and operate, with reduced requirements for protection against harsh shooting environments. Products increasingly pursue cost-effectiveness and diversity. Currently, the retail price of mainstream entry-level products in the market is within 1,000 yuan, accounting for a relatively high proportion of overall shipments. In terms of product form,Consumer-grade panoramic cameraIt mainly includes three categories: stereoscopic independent panoramic cameras, modular cameras, and monocular independent cameras.

• Stereo Standalone

Including multiple high-performance optoelectronic sensors arranged side by side, they allow for the capture of complex three-dimensional images or dynamic videos. Consumer-grade products typically support resolutions of 4K or higher. In the early stages of the industry's development, most stereoscopic standalone panoramic camera devices were only targeted at enterprise applications. However, in recent years, with the gradual enhancement of individual consumers' purchasing power for panoramic cameras, there have been more stereoscopic standalone panoramic camera products aimed at mid-range market players on the market.

• Modular camera

Although it is commonly considered a type of accessory, in fact, it is an independent smart imaging device paired with smartphones and connected through data/power ports. The modular camera consists of two fisheye cameras that control to form a 360-degree spherical shooting perspective through mobile applications. The relatively simple design, reliable functionality, and affordable price of modular cameras make them mainly targeted at the leisure consumer market. Due to operational limitations on mobile platforms and the increasing demand for smart imaging device performance from customers, the market is gradually showing a trend where modular cameras are being replaced by more advanced standalone products.

• Mono Standalone

Similar to stereoscopic independent panoramic cameras, monocular independent cameras include multiple optical and electronic sensors but do not offer stereoscopic shooting capabilities. Thanks to their more affordable prices and higher playability, monocular independent camera products are quite attractive to new consumers.

Professional sports cameraIt usually refers to high-end consumer products that adopt high-performance DSP chips and are suitable for extreme sports, field photography, and other shooting scenarios with high protection requirements. Compared to entry-level sports camera products, professional-grade equipment captures images more accurately, has higher resolution, and also enhances other basic performance aspects. The retail price of professional-grade sports camera equipment is typically 4 to 5 times that of entry-level devices, serving a player group with stronger purchasing power.

Source: Frost & Sullivan research

Although the traditional camera industry has been impacted by the rise of mobile phone-based photography this century, imaging devices, especially smart imaging devices, still maintain irreplaceability in many fields. They benefit from large-volume CMOS and wide-angle lens capabilities, and smart imaging devices far outperform mobile phone lenses in terms of imaging accuracy and texture. Therefore, the positioning of smart imaging devices is gradually shifting from a daily shooting recording tool to specialized high-precision imaging devices in industrial fields (professional-level smart imaging devices) or to high-end consumer products that focus on enhancing people's photography experience and meeting the photography needs of special groups (consumer-level smart imaging devices).

Driven by brand marketing efforts such as GoPro and Insta360, the market for consumer-grade handheld smart imaging devices has seen continuous growth in recent years. By 2022, the global market size of handheld smart imaging devices had increased from 16.43 billion yuan in 2017 to 30.75 billion yuan in 2022, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of up to 13.4%. Today, consumer-grade handheld smart imaging devices have initially penetrated the market, and it is expected that the industry will enter a period of rapid growth.

From the perspective of shipments, in 2022, global shipments of handheld smart imaging devices reached 37.628 million units, with a compound growth rate of 20.2% since 2017's 14.987 million units. In 2020, although shipments of handheld smart imaging devices decreased due to factors such as travel restrictions caused by the pandemic, the pent-up consumer demand was released in the past two years, and the industry quickly returned to growth.

For global regional market segments, panoramic cameras have the largest sales share in North America. The European market follows, ranking second in the overall panoramic camera market. The Chinese market is still relatively small compared to other markets, accounting for about 19%, but it maintains a relatively optimistic growth rate.

Source: Frost & Sullivan research

Compared to mainstream social platforms abroad such as Twitter, Facebook, and Line, which support the transmission of large files and special format images using smart imaging devices, China's current mainstream social media do not support the shooting and sharing of images by smart imaging devices, which greatly limits the purchasing enthusiasm of user groups. However, with the increasing number of users of smart imaging devices and the gradual formation of market education, it is foreseeable that future mainstream social software in China will add features for sharing images from smart imaging devices. On the other hand, as one of the tools to enhance travel experiences, smart imaging devices, similar to the promotion logic of outdoor camping equipment in recent years, require a certain amount of user accumulation from enthusiasts to mass market hot products. With brand merchants making unremitting efforts to promote and more young players trying out, the domestic market potential for smart imaging devices is enormous.

In the future, competition among smart imaging device brand players for core raw materials such as DSP chips and CMOS image sensors will intensify further. It is foreseeable that industry leaders with a certain scale of procurement will have stronger bargaining power in the market, leading to a further inclination of limited resources towards these top players, causing a certain degree of resource monopoly for smaller players in the industry.

The panoramic camera industry currently shows a trend of further technical differentiation between professional and consumer products. Driven by personal consumption, consumer-grade panoramic cameras will focus more on outdoor usability and practicality. While enhancing protection features such as motion capture, anti-shake, and waterproofing, they will also improve image editing software, optimize social media sharing solutions, and integrate into home AIoT system scenarios. On the other hand, professional panoramic cameras will pay more attention to enhancing their industrial production value, continuing to deepen their imaging accuracy and data availability in scenarios such as VR panoramas, film production, and industrial monitoring.

Panoramic shooting can achieve the function of recording environmental images while capturing the player's own movement. Currently, players in the market prefer sports cameras with panoramic capabilities over other intelligent imaging devices. As an expert-level sports camera product that values customer experience, it is inevitable that future models will increasingly add panoramic shooting features to enhance their added value and broaden their target audience. Driven by consumer demand, the pursuit of 'all-in-one, high cost-performance' models has gradually become an industry consensus. On the other hand, at the production end, the overlapping demand for lens modules and DSP chips among panoramic cameras and sports cameras can lead to inefficient upstream capacity consumption. With the gradual breaking down of technical barriers, industrial integration of consumer-grade intelligent imaging devices may be unavoidable.

In terms of advertising placement, online advertising is more precise than traditional offline advertising and offers better accessibility to target customer groups. Referring to the current industry leader in advertising promotion, Insta360, the main focus of intelligent imaging device product promotion has gradually shifted towards emerging self-media user platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, and Bilibili. At the same time, a strategy of joint sales with well-known offline brand stores like Apple and Canon is also a good choice.

Currently, Inspiree Insta360 is the largest player in the global panoramic camera market, holding a market share of 51%. The main product categories of Inspiree Insta360 include consumer-grade smart imaging devices, professional-grade smart imaging devices, accessories, and other products. Inspiree Insta360 has also successively established strategic partnerships with brands such as German Leica Camera Company, American Google, Facebook, Twitter, and multimedia editing software service provider Adobe. In March 2018, Inspiree Insta360 officially entered Apple's direct stores globally, and to date, it has launched five products including ONE X2, ONE R, and GO, remaining the only panoramic imaging brand introduced into Apple stores.

Yingshi Insta360 offers a variety of products such as modular, standalone, and cinematic panoramic cameras, maintaining strong competitiveness in the entire field of panoramic cameras. Currently, the latest model of Yingshi Insta360 is the Insta360 X3, which has 10-meter waterproof performance and excellent anti-shake capabilities. The Insta360 X3 features clear image quality and outstanding battery life, leading the industry in comprehensive performance. Yingshi Insta360 products are characterized by powerful AI algorithms, offering a variety of creative editing and gameplay options with rich app functions, making them popular among young people. It can hide selfie sticks and other features, making it suitable for extreme sports like skiing, skateboarding, and surfing, liberating users' hands as much as possible while capturing Hollywood-style action blockbusters.

GoPro was founded in 2004 and went public on NASDAQ in the United States in 2014 (GPRO). Based in San Mateo, California, it is a leading manufacturer of action cameras and developer of mobile applications and video editing software. Since 2015, GoPro has enhanced its product capabilities for 360° panoramic shooting and post-production video editing by acquiring two image processing software companies, Kolor and ReelSteady. In terms of performance, GoPro boasts the best. For example, the latest model of the GoPro series, the GoPro HERO11 Black, not only has powerful anti-shake performance but also excellent waterproofing, allowing it to be directly filmed underwater at a depth of 10 meters.

AKASO, a subsidiary of Shenzhen Saina Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., was established in Seattle, Washington, USA in 2011 and the brand AKASO was founded in 2013. AKASO manufactures high-quality, affordable sports cameras. In less than 7 years, AKASO has become one of the world's leading sports camera brands, with annual sales exceeding 500,000 units. AKASO has also expanded its business into new areas, including IP cameras, baby monitors, dashcams, fitness trackers, projectors, video doorbells, and even drones.

The AKASO action camera product uses Annapoa's processing chip, supporting high-resolution, complex motion trajectory, and other high-performance motion imaging applications. Currently, after the Amazon account suspension of action camera manufacturer Anko, AKASO quickly filled the gap in the mid-range market, achieving a certain amount of market growth and further strengthening its brand advantage.

Ricoh is a renowned Japanese manufacturer of office equipment and optical machinery, ranked among the Fortune Global 500 companies. Its product portfolio includes office image processing devices (such as MFPs, printers, etc.) that provide services and solutions such as document output management and IT solutions, production digital printing machines, supply products, digital cameras, and industrial products such as thermal media, semiconductors, and factory automation cameras.

Currently, the exterior material of Ricoh's latest product, the Theta X camera, is made of magnesium alloy. It features a 60-megapixel sensor, supports 5.7K 30p video recording, allows for the use of the editing application Theta+, WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities, and weighs only 170 grams overall. Ricoh in Japan has chosen the same Qualcomm chip as mobile phones for its panoramic camera chips. Qualcomm chips have excellent data transmission capabilities and high stability but are lacking in anti-shake calculations. As an established Japanese optical manufacturing company, Ricoh has its own lens factory, which is a unique advantage over other sports camera and panoramic camera manufacturers.