But the increased accelerometer usage won’t just be a boon for device manufacturers; mobile content and gaming companies also benefit from the motion-sensing tech, because it makes their games more realistic (and more fun). “Few consumers know what accelerometers are,” said Jérémie Bouchaud, director and principal analyst, Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) for iSuppli, in the report. “[But] they do know that when they shake their handsets, they can roll a pair of virtual dice in a game of chance.”

iSuppli also found that accelerometers wouldn’t be limited to smartphones, noting that the motion-sensing capabilities are spreading to other kinds of handsets. As for market penetration, nearly all (18 out of 19) of the new handsets that Sony Ericsson introduced this year had accelerometers; Nokia was next, bundling the sensors into roughly 38 percent of the new phones it has released since January.