It was the first megapixel camera and introduced the world to the concept of reasonable quality cameras in phones.

It was only a short period of time before Nokia became the number one manufacturer of camera lenses in the world.

That isn’t a typo – Nokia were known for their mobile phones but they were the number one manufacturer of camera lenses in the world. Forget the traditional camera manufacturers such as Canon; Nikon; Fujifilm or Olympus.

Some of these names go back almost a century in producing cameras.

It was a great trivia question as most people would naturally put forward a traditional camera manufacturer rather than a mobile phone manufacturer but given that Nokia, at their peak (in 2008) sold 472 million phones in a year, it is easy to see that the number of camera lenses produced would have surpassed traditional camera manufacturers.

With sales of 320.2 million mobile phone units last year, Samsung would currently be ranked as the top camera lens manufacturer. When you consider that many of these phones actually have two cameras, the number of actual lenses produced is incredible.

Apple would be ranked number two with 225.8 million units last year. Their latest offering actually has 3 cameras so, by virtue of actual lenses, they may soon rival Samsung.

When you consider the likes of Canon and Nikon sell in the vicinity of eight to twelve million units each year, the number of lenses they produce pales into insignificance against the phone manufacturers.

I accept the argument that I am sure is forming in your head right now that the cameras on smartphones are not as good as traditional cameras and you can achieve a lot more with a traditional camera but the point is that most people don’t care.

Sony is one manufacturer who has done an excellent job of bringing their camera technology to their smartphone range.

Sony have always had a reputation for excellence in their products and their cameras were well regarded.

At 23 megapixels, the Sony smartphones have the highest megapixel count of any of the smartphone manufactures.

By comparison, Samsung has one model at 16 megapixels and Apple has 12 megapixels in their latest offering.

If you ask any camera expert, they will tell you that there is so much more to the quality of a photo than the megapixels – and I agree, the point is that consumers don’t care.

If they can have the convenience of one device in their pocket that will take good pictures and perform the variety of other functions possible with a smartphone, even though other devices may do it slightly better, convenience wins out.

The real challenge for camera manufacturers – both existing and wannabes – is to produce a new product so outstanding that it drives consumers back to the individual market. Maybe GoPro has already achieved that in the active camera market.

Most people don’t want to risk their expensive smartphone while trying to take photos skiing or riding mountain bikes, so instead they risk their expensive GoPro while doing the same activities.

The difference is that the GoPro is built for that treatment. New visionaries are keen to join the fray as well.

A new manufacturer, Light, has introduced a new camera to rival the traditional cameras in quality.

Their first product is still only at prototype stage but orders have already closed for this year. 

Despite the fact that smartphones seem to be able to do everything, if the product is good enough, there is still a segment there for it.

My hope is that these various manufacturers continue to innovate and try and create new segments. What that means for all of us is competition which will deliver better products at better prices. It’s hard to argue with that!