Driven primarily by increasing application in smartphones and tablets, the global camera module market will grow nearly 20 percent a year for the next six years to reach $43 billion in 2019, according to a market report by Transparency Market Research. The camera module market was worth $12 billion in 2012, with the Asia-Pacific region (China, India, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Singapore) being the largest, accounting for 60 percent of revenue. North America was second largest in 2012, according to "Global Camera Module Market - Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2013-2019." Camera modules include several components, such as the image sensor, voice coil motor and filter. Other key factors behind the market's growth will be increasing application in the automotive sector and rapidly improving technology, with improvements in smartphone pixels from 5 to 8 MP and above 13 MP expected to increase market demand globally for the modules, the report said. Also adding to market growth is the rising demand for mobile phones with front- and rear-facing cameras. CMOS camera modules are expected to see higher growth than CCD modules in coming years because of the simplicity of the CMOS module circuit and its low production cost compared with the CCD, the market researcher said. CCDs require multiple chips for functions such as automatic gain control, precision zoom, signal processing and storage, while the CMOS module provides these functions using a single chip. CCD sensors also require a more specialized manufacturing process, so they are primarily used in niche applications where optical performance or resolution is paramount. Browse the full report here.