According to a new report from ABI, location-based sensor fusion is still “very much a rarity on smartphones today,” but that’s all about to change.
In fact, by 2019 this market will be nothing short of massive, thanks to growth driven by local search, retail, health, connected home, and personal asset tracking applications.
“Conditions are perfect for disruptive new entrants,” says ABI senior analyst Patrick Connolly. “All major sensor IC vendors have identified location-based sensor fusion as important, yet InvenSense is the only company to actively invest in this area. This lack of priority is driven by a short-term demand issue, as the indoor ecosystem is not evolved enough to warrant major developer interest. This will create a void, as the aforementioned applications take off over the next 2 years.”
ABI Research believes that GNSS IC vendors and start-ups have a major opportunity to meet this demand. It is important to note that unlike the IC market where there is one slot to compete for, ABI Research predicts handsets will run multiple indoor location technologies for different applications.
Connolly believes that this uniquely competitive environment is “further complicated by handset vendors like Apple, creating their own location-based sensor fusion solution as part of an always-on ubiquitous offering. This will be disruptive, creating competition and opportunity in equal measures.”
