Due to the vital role they play in the user interfaces of popular smart phones like Apple’s iPhone and Palm’s Pre, accelerometers are expected to appear in a third of all mobile phones shipped next year, according to research company iSuppli Corp. That percentage is a significant jump from 2009’s count of one in five and 2008’s total of one in 11.

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Beyond game play and screen orientation, the most popular uses for three-axis microelectromechanical-systems (MEMS) accelerometer motion sensors include power management and shake modes to control tracks in music phones, context awareness, and pedometers. Features like these are driving the popularity of these devices.

iSuppli’s teardown of the iPhone 3G S revealed a three-axis MEMS accelerometer from STMicroelectronics. In addition to the features mentioned above, the part works with the 3G S digital compass to orient maps to whatever direction a user is facing. When iSuppli examined the Pre, it found a Kionix MEMS accelerometer and inclinometer.

Among the top mobile-phone OEMs, 38% of new Nokia handset platforms have integrated motion-sensing accelerometers since January. Sony Ericsson had the highest percentage of accelerometers, with 18 out of 19 new phone models introduced this year using them. Samsung and LG also are offering new phones with three-axis accelerometers.

Since January 1, 18.3% of the several hundred phones introduced have integrated an accelerometer. The research company expects the use of accelerometers in new models to rise in the second half of 2009. Mobile phones also use MEMS devices like microphones, bulk acoustic wave (BAW) duplexers and filters, autofocus generators, pressure sensors, and pico-projectors. MEMS gyroscopes will appear in early 2010 as well.

This growth will cause the market for microelectromechanical sensors for mobile phones to more than triple from 2008 to 2013. Global revenue from sales of MEMS for mobile phones will rise from $460.9 million in 2009 to $1.6 billion in 2013. To learn more, see iSuppli’s latest MEMS report, “Consumer MEMS Markets Hold Promise Despite Global Downturn."

iSuppli Corp.