In 1984, what is now Yuyao City, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province was still a small county town. In this small county town, an optical instrument factory, Sunny Optical Group, was established here, and Yuyao County was not until 1985 It was only in July of this year that the county was established as a city (a county-level city, subordinate to Ningbo City).
Born in a small county town, this has not affected the growth of Sunny Optical. From the beginning, it only made camera lenses, and now it has expanded its business to focus on mobile phone, car and other lens modules. Through 30 years After years of hard work, it was listed in Hong Kong in 2007. Now it has gone global and has become a supplier of mobile phone camera modules and lenses for first-line mobile phone brands such as Huawei, Apple, OPPO, Samsung, vivo, Xiaomi, Lenovo, etc. At the same time, its The automotive optical lenses we have produced have entered the field of luxury cars, such as Mercedes-Benz, Audi, BMW, Lexus, etc.
According to Sunny Optical’s 2020 financial report, the annual revenue has reached 38 billion yuan, the net profit is 4.87 billion yuan, the annual shipment volume of mobile phone camera modules is 593 million pieces, and the shipment volume of mobile phone lenses The shipment volume is 1.53 billion pieces. By comparing the shipment volume in recent years, Sunny has maintained rapid growth. Currently, Sunny's mobile phone camera lens and module market share ranks first in the world. This is due to the popularity of smartphones in recent years and the increase in the number of mobile phone cameras. Nowadays, it is almost impossible to see a mobile phone with a single camera. Mobile phones with 2-4 cameras are very common.
Not only in mobile phone camera modules, but also in vehicle lenses, Sunny has maintained rapid and stable growth, ranking first in the world in market share for many years in a row. From 2015 to 2020, shipments increased from more than 10 million The number of products has increased to more than 50 million. With the rise of new energy smart cars, Sunny has the tendency to lead the future automotive lens market.
In the technology circle, everyone knows that Apple is very strict about the supply chain. It is a joy to be able to enter Apple's supply chain, and Sunny Optical has also successfully entered Apple's supply chain. chain.
Before talking about Sunny joining Apple’s supply chain, we have to mention when he first started making mobile phone camera modules.
Sunny Optical is a latecomer in making mobile phone lens modules. The first model to use Sunny Optical lenses was the Honor 6 Plus in 2014. The rear dual 8-megapixel lens module was manufactured by Sunny Optical. It is supplied by optical production, which also laid the foundation for the subsequent Huawei P9 series. It is equivalent to using it first, and then using it on Huawei's flagship mobile phone without any problem. The Huawei P9 series in 2016 was very popular. The color and black and white dual-camera lenses on the rear were well received for taking pictures. This phone also opened the road to multi-camera for Huawei's flagship phones.
Since then, Sunny Optical has continued to cooperate with domestic mobile phone manufacturers OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi, etc. and maintained stable supply. However, Sunny is limited to the domestic market and also wants to explore the international market. Samsung has become the main target. In 2018, Sunny Optical successfully cooperated with Samsung, and the first model of the cooperation was the Galalxy S9 flagship mobile phone. At this point, Sunny Optical has completed a major transformation, going abroad and moving towards high-end products.
Sunny Optical only joined Apple’s supply chain in 2020. It began to supply lenses for iPad and Mac in the first half of 2021, and began to supply mobile phone lens modules for iPhone in the second half of the year. According to Ming-Chi Kuo’s analysis report, in 2022 Sunny Optical will be able to expand lens production for Apple by at least 50% this year.
In fact, being an Apple supplier is not that easy, and it may be replaced at any time. When it comes to Apple OEMs, the first thing that comes to mind is Foxconn and Luxshare Precision, both of which are supported by Apple to restrict and compete with each other. Mobile phone lens module suppliers are no exception.
Regarding suppliers, Apple almost always has at least two factories of the same nature. The initiative is in its own hands, and the supply of mobile phone lens modules is no exception.
As soon as Sunny Optical entered the market, OFILM was eliminated from Apple’s supply chain.
Before that, OFILM and Largan were competing with each other, but now it has become Sunny Optical and Largan. Apple has also cultivated two optical lens companies, Yujingguang and Kangdazhi, but it is difficult to compete with Largan Optoelectronics. Sunny Optical has become the best choice.
According to TSR data in 2020, Sunny Optical’s mobile phone optical lens market share is 26, second only to Largan’s 28. However, in early December 2021, relevant data showed that Sunny Optical mobile phone lenses had surpassed Largan Light and ranked first.
In 38 years, Sunny Optical has grown from a small factory to a large international manufacturer. Of course, Sunny Optical's great achievements are inseparable from a large amount of investment and research and development. In the first half of 2021 alone, Sunny Optical has achieved such great achievements. Shun Optical invested 1.321 billion yuan in research and development expenses. The number of patents increased by 392 in half a year, and the total number of patents reached 2,488.
Finally, let me tell you something that many people may not know yet. We often see mobile phone manufacturers talking about 6P or 7P lenses when introducing mobile phone lenses, thinking that they refer to 6-piece (Pieces) lenses. In fact, the P here is not a quantifier indicating quantity, but the abbreviation of Plastic. , that is to say, the lens of the mobile phone is made of plastic instead of glass. Although the glass lens has a high refractive index and good permeability, plastic has lower cost, simple process, and is more suitable for mass production and shipment.
I don’t know if you still remember the Redmi K40 Gaming Enhanced Edition. When it was released, it was introduced to have “1G 5P” ED ultra-low dispersion optical glass lenses. This is made of 1 glass lens and 5 plastics. The lenses are mixed, but the supplier is not Yushun Optical, but Chengrui Optical.
Next, mobile phone camera lenses are likely to develop in the direction of using glass or a mixture of glass and plastic. Xiaomi is testing the effect of mixed lenses on Redmi. If the effect is good, it will be promoted to flagship phones. For Sunny Optical, Largan Optoelectronics and other optical manufacturers, it is the next competition point.