Apple Is No. 1 Consumer of MEMS Microphones

After conducting thorough research throughout 2011, IHS iSuppli learned that sales of the iPad tablet computer propelled Apple to the number one spot among MEMS microphone buyers.

The Cupertino company reportedly increased its procurement of MEMS microphones by 173 percent in 2011 to reach 349 million units. In 2010, the iPad maker had acquired only 128 million mics.

According to an IHS iSuppli MEMS Market Brief, “this represented the strongest growth among the major MEMS microphone buyers, allowing Apple to move up one position to take the No. 1 spot in purchases.”

This translated into a 27 percent market-share for Apple. By comparison, Samsung had 20 percent, IHS said.

“Apple in 2010 sounded the starting gun for the current boom in MEMS microphone sales when it adopted the devices in its iPhone 4,” said Jérémie Bouchaud, director and principal analyst, MEMS and sensors, for IHS.

“However, with the addition of MEMS microphones into the highly successful iPad 2 in 2011, Apple’s purchasing of the tiny devices went into overdrive. When combined with strong increases in its buys of MEMS microphones for iPhone headsets, Apple outstripped all other rivals to become the largest consumer of the devices, helping the drive the growth of the overall market.”

Bouchaud explains that this immense growth was due to a combination of factors stemming from the MEMS technology.

Its rapid adoption in smartphone devices was due to noise compression — “particularly important for voice commands such as those used in the Siri speech-recognition feature of the iPhone 4S,” according to Bouchaud.

MEMS microphones are also becoming widely used in other types of devices, such as laptops, tablets, gaming consoles and cameras, according to the report.

A teardown by the research firm found that Apple uses two analog MEMS microphones in its iPhone 4 and 4S. According to IHS, “one analog MEMS microphone in the headset sold with the iPhone, and one digital MEMS microphone for Pad 2 tablets.”