Results from a new study conducted by ABI Research entitled “Mobile Phone Imaging: Opportunities for Driving Usage of Camera Phones through Click/Send/Print” reveal that in the next two years low-end camera phones will take up the market share currently being enjoyed by low-end standalone digital cameras.

“We believe that within the next two years, the quality of a mobile phone camera will be such that people won’t need low-end standalone digital cameras. This will dramatically impact camera sales”, according to Kenneth Hyers, ABI Research principal analyst of global wireless operator research.

It is estimated that the average 1.3 megapixel camera phone today will be quite common in the marketplace in the near future and that the 5 megapixel camera phone models, although rare, WILL be around.

In fact, Hyers further states that as early as 2006, 1.3 megapixel camera phones will perform better in the market versus VGA camera phones. And in the coming years, two-, three- and four-megapixel camera phones will replace the lower specification models.