MEMS Mics forecast: 42% growth in 2012 to $0.58 B, and $1.0 B by 2016

IHS reports the shipments of MEMS microphones in 2012 amounted to 2.05 billion units, up a remarkable 57 percent from 1.30 billion in 2011. Shipments this year will climb by another 30 percent to 2.66 billion units, to be followed by at least three more years of notable double-digit-rate increases. By 2016, approximately 4.65 billion MEMS microphones will be shipping. Below is the rest of the market analysis shared by IHS: Revenue also made big gains in 2012, up 42 percent to $582 million, on the way to a projected $1.0 billion by 2016. Microphones continue to be one of the best success stories in MEMS, with the rapid growth of the device due to its increasing penetration in the four areas of handsets, laptops, headsets and media tablets. MEMS microphones also can be found to a lesser extent in applications such as gaming, cameras, televisions and hearing aids, contributing to their broadening use overall, with further utilization coming to set-top boxes this year and to automotive in the next three years. For handsets—by far the top application—penetration of MEMS microphones rose to 69 percent last year, up from 52 percent in 2011 and 38 percent in 2010. In particular, multiple microphones are now being adopted in smartphones for noise suppression, in which the cancellation of ambient sounds is crucial for handsets when carrying out voice commands, like what Si...