Dual-lens smartphone cameras boosting revenue

In 2016, the two-lens smartphone camera took off in high-end handsets. Huawei was the first to make a splash in this area with its P9, which used one monochrome camera sensor. Apple also included a second camera lens in its iPhone 7 Plus, with one lens having a 2x zoom. The advantages of having two lenses were welcomed by tech reviewers, but this feature is helping more than just users.

Sunny Optical, based in Zhejiang, China, saw its Hong Kong-listed stock jump 20 times over the last five years, according to the Wall Street Journal. The company's success in recent years was the product of a smartphone boom as it supplied parts to companies such as Samsung and Huawei. Now, smartphone growth has stagnated, but the trend of adding an additional camera lens to smartphone camera modules might be helping camera parts suppliers. Shipments for Sunny's camera-lens components were up 100 percent in January compared with a year earlier.

Largan Precision could also be benefiting from the shift. The Taiwan company supplies parts to Apple and is currently trading at 19 times its forward earnings after sales have recently picked up following a sluggish 2016. Sony is another popular smartphone camera sensor supplier, and the company saw shipments jump 41 percent in the fourth quarter.

The dual-lens camera trend has not caught on across the board. Google stuck with one lens for the Pixel and Samsung has yet to introduce a phone with the feature. Rumors for what is in store for the Galaxy S8 indicate Samsung is not ready to go in this direction, either.