To start the week, Patently Apple posted a Ming-Chi Kuo based report titled "Apple's demand for Sony's increased CMOS image sensor capacity for the iPhone 15 has Android OEMs scrambling for new suppliers." To end the week, Kuo posted another round of research notes regarding Sony's Contact Image Sensor (CIS) technology for iPhone 16 as follows:

• Following two 2H23 iPhone 15 standard models, two 2H24 iPhone 16 Pro models will also adopt stacked-designed CIS, so Sony’s high-end CIS capacity will continue to be tight in 2024, benefiting Will Semi to continue to obtain more orders for high-end CIS from Chinese smartphone brands (design- in & design-win).
• Will Semi’s CIS shipments declined YoY in 1H23 due to inventory corrections, but due to inventory restocking and market share gains, the company will bottom out ahead of smartphone (end device) and resume growth from 2H23. Will Semi CIS shipments will improve significantly in 2023, growing by about 8% YoY (vs. a decline of about 40% YoY in 2022), which is better than smartphones and most components.
• As Sony’s high-end CIS capacity remains tight, Will Semi’s high-end CIS (48MP+) market share will continue to grow rapidly. It is expected that 2H23 high-end CIS shipments will increase by about 50% HoH (Half-on Half) to 36 million units, and shipments in 3Q23 and 4Q23 will be about 16 million and 20 million units, respectively. Benefiting from the significant increase in orders in 2H23, Will Semi’s high-end CIS shipments in 2023 will grow by about 35% YoY.
• Among Will Semi’s high-end CIS, the main contributions come from OV50A, OV50E, OV50H and OV64B. The above mentioned CIS replaced many orders from Sony.
• Looking forward to 2024, thanks to the tight capacity of Sony’s high-end CIS, Will Semi’s total CIS and high-end CIS shipments are expected to grow by about 15–20% YoY and 40–50% YoY, respectively. With the continued improvement in total shipments and product mix, sales and profit are expected to grow significantly from 2H23.

Will Semiconductor is owned by the Omnivision group. In late December 2020 we posted a report titled "Rumor claims that Apple may have signed on with Win Semiconductor's new Business Model for Future RF Components."