IsMedia supplies camera inspection kits to Sharp 

South Korean equipment maker IsMedia will supply its camera module inspection equipment to Sharp, the company said.

The pair signed a 2 billion won supply deal for the kits, IsMedia said.

The inspection equipment will be supplied to Sharp’s factory in Vietnam.

They will likely be used for cameras that the Japanese firm is manufacturing for Apple.

IsMedia likely signed the new contract with Sharp as its major customer O’Film Group had been kicked out of Cupertino’s supply chain.

Sharp, along with South Korea’s LG InnoTek, is a major camera module supplier to Apple. The pair will look to filling the vacuum left by O’Film in the iPhone maker’s supply chain for cameras.

They are also developing new camera modules to be used in the upcoming iPhone, which will require more inspection equipment.

O’Film Group was IsMedia’s second-largest customer after Q Technology.

Back in April, 2019, the South Korean equipment maker signed a 7.3 billion won contract to supply its kits to O’Film Group. The firm was planning to supply inspection kits for dual-camera, as well as automation equipment handler.

But O’Film Group failed to secure as much volume as it wanted from its then customer Apple. This caused the execution of the supply contract with IsMedia to be delayed. In 2020, the contract was revised to just 400 million won, and completed.

In February, after being kicked out of Apple’s supply chain, O’Film sold its equipment related to camera module to Wingtech, an original design manufacturer for smartphones.

Last year, IsMedia recorded 21.9 billion won in sales, a dip of 67.3% from 2019. It recorded 14.5 billion won in operating loss. By comparison, in 2018, the firm recorded 78.9 billion won in sales and 4.1 billion won in operating income.

Besides O’Film and Q Technology, it also supplies its equipment to Truly, Mcnex and Partron. It competes with HyVision System, Pamtek and Nextas in camera module inspection equipment.