Strategy Analytics’s Handset Component Technology service’s report entitled “Cellphone Memory Card Revenues will Recover in 2010 after Two Bleak Years” finds that total global shipments of cell phone memory cards was flat, at 444 million cards, in 2008 and 2009.

Manufacturers of removable memory cards, especially used in cell phones, have had to face considerable price declines last year and challenging market conditions this year due to recession, says the report.

However, it is anticipated that there will be 11 percent growth in sales of cellphone memory cards in 2010, after two flat years, due to the fact that there might be higher phone shipments by next year.

Added to this, even the supply-demand dynamic of MLC NAND Flash has also stabilized and the global economic position has also started to improve.

According to Strategy Analytics (News - Alert) Handset Component Technology service, the revenue from memory card sales is expected to show strong growth in the long-term from a flat USD $3 billion in 2007, 2008 and 2009, to USD $9 billion by 2013. This indicated an average growth of 25 percent per year, over the next five years.

In a release, Stuart Robinson, director of the handset component technologies service, said “Revenue from memory card sales is expected to show strong growth in the long-term which will be fueled by greater cell phone shipments, higher penetration of slots in phones, higher capacity cards and less severe price reductions of NAND Flash.”

“Strategy Analytics estimates that the global average card capacity will be 2.27GB for 2009 and will increase at an annual average rate of nearly 118 percent over the next five years,” said Stephen Entwistle, VP of the strategic technologies practice. “The next big question in the removable memory card market is the impact that embedded memory will have on slots and card sales as some high-end smart phone models are likely to have over 1TB of embedded memory by 2015.”

The complete report provides detailed forecasts on unit shipments; revenue and card capacities - for bundled as well as aftermarket sales of cell phone memory cards globally and in 27 specific countries.

A previous report from Strategy Analytics predicted that shipments of cards might grow at around 13 percent per year to 2012, reaching 990 million.

According to Strategy Analytics, the average capacity of a 2007-bundled card was estimated to be 520MB, while that of an aftermarket card was over 1GB. By 2012, the average card capacity is likely to be over 26GB.

Furthermore, Strategy Analytics had anticipated last year that the revenue from cell phone memory card sales might grow faster than unit shipments, due to demand for capacity rising.