The thickness of compact camera modules (CCM), to satisfy demand of ultrabooks have a thickness of only 0.7- to 0.8-inch, is expected to shrink down from a standard size of 3-4mm currently to 2.5mm or even 2.0mm in 2012 and the process is expected to trigger a technology competition between CCM makers, which could result in a significantly reshuffling in their market ranking.

Currently, there are already a few players using a COF process, which was originally used for making smartphone camera modules, to make camera modules for notebook, while some players, which have patents for PCB layers in camera module, such as Azurewave, can reduce the height of its PCB layers from 0.8mm originally to 0.15mm and effectively reduce the overall height of the module.

With Microsoft's Windows 8 set to launch in the second half of 2012, the software is expected to trigger a replace trend of having all the notebook models equipped with a HD quality camera module, increasing the camera's manufacturing process from 2P to a more difficult 3P or 4P; therefore, to maintain HD quality images with a reduced module size, could be a new challenge for the CCM makers.