Demand for dynamic random access memory devices for smartphones are expected to outdo the overall DRAM market and post a triple-digit annual growth this year, an industry report said Wednesday.

DRAM shipments in smartphone handsets are forecast to grow 164.4 percent in 2011 from last year, according to market research firm IHS iSuppli.

DRAM shipments for smartphones will continue to post a fast-paced growth in years to come, according to the firm. It estimated a 109.8 percent expansion for next year and 75.9 percent for 2013.

The growth of smartphone DRAM sales will outstrip that of all DRAM shipments, which include shipments of memory chips for personal computers.

The market research firm predicted a 50 percent on-year growth for the entire DRAM market in 2011.

The brisk outlook for mobile DRAM is attributed to robust sales of smartphones and high memory densities in those feature-packed gadgets, iSuppli said.

Smartphones will continue to command an increasing portion of the entire DRAM market, which explains why DRAM makers are betting big on mobile DRAM production, according to the firm.

Smartphones will account for 7.8 percent of total DRAM consumption this year, up from 4.4 percent in 2010.

This share will rise to 11 percent next year and then climb to 13.6 percent in 2013, 15.0 percent in 2014 and 15.9 percent in 2015, according to iSuppli.

The latest smartphones are adopting memories that are faster and larger, the research firm said, after dissecting recent models from Samsung Electronics Co., Apple Inc. and two other companies.

Average DRAM loading for smartphones will post an increase in coming years. The average smartphone DRAM density will reach 715 megabyte in 2012, up 55 percent from 461MB this year, iSuppli said. 

(Yonhap News)