SEOUL, KOREA - Smartphone is no longer a simple phone. It is a multi-functional IT device that allows people not only to do phone calls, text messaging, but also to enjoy music, movies, games, and documentations.
Smartphone is now called as an IT black hole that absorbs the functions of other electronics devices, forcing MP3 players and portable media players to disappear out of the scene.
One of the electronics items that face great challenges from smartphones is the camera. Armed with more than 13-megapixel image quality, smartphones kicked compact cameras that once led the digital camera market, out of the market.
Against this backdrop, camera makers are looking for drastic transformation as part of an effort to find ways for survival. They shifted toward development of high-quality compact cameras that cannot be emulated by smartphones, or lens-type cameras that can be used in connection with smartphones.
