Demand for dual-camera smartphones growing: when will Samsung join in?

Dual-camera smartphones have been adopted by many manufacturers including LG, Apple and HUAWEI and recent news from the Korea Herald suggests that camera components suppliers, namely LG Innotek and Samsung Electro-Mechanics, are seeing significant revenues.

This much could be guessed, based on the number of major handsets now integrating a dual-camera setup, but LG Innotek in particular seems to achieving unprecedented numbers. It made a record-breaking $103 million in profit in Q4, 2016, thanks in part to the success of the Apple iPhone 7, which it supplied the camera parts for.

LG Innotek’s profits are expected to continue to grow — and “beat market expectations,” says one analyst — with the launch of its upcoming LG G6 flagship likely to make use of dual-camera tech.

Meanwhile, Samsung Electro-Mechanics is also said to achieve a large sales increase, thanks to partnerships with Xiaomi and LeEco (formed in Q3, 2016) and potentially HUAWEI, OPPO and vivo, who it is said to be in talks with. However, according to reports, the soon-to-be-released Galaxy S8 will not have a dual-camera setup.

Though it might seem strange that Samsung wouldn’t use a dual-camera setup on the Galaxy S8, when it’s clearly on-trend, it may be because it’s too expensive to integrate. That said, many of the other major manufacturers have been able to adopt the tech without radically exceeding the expected price of their handsets

What could be more likely, then, is that Samsung simply doesn’t believe in the overall benefit that the dual-camera setup provides right now. But as more manufacturers adopt it, the pressure is likely to build, and come the Galaxy Note 8, Samsung might have changed its mind.

What’s your take on dual-camera tech? Let us know in the comments.