Mobile phones that can shoot video are becoming increasingly popular in Asia

Phones that can shoot video -- camcorder phones -- will surge in popularity in Korea this year, according to a report in the daily Korea Times.

A report from Samsung quoted in the article said that by the send of this year, such phones will comprise 11 percent of handsets sold in the country, compared with 50 percent for still camera phones.

Samsung is to launch a phone with 96 MB in flash memory storage, which can shoot and store video for over an hour. Current camcorder models such include the Samsung SCH-V310 and SCH-V330.

The SCH-V330, available only in Korea, has an integrated 300,000 pixel still and video camera and stores up to 20 minutes of video at 11 frames a second.

"Mobile phones have come a long way from black and white displays to colour displays. Today, next-generation models have built-in cameras, and now built-in camcorders," said Samsung senior director Kim Jong-In said in an earlier CNETAsia report.

The Korea Times report said that Samsung rivals LG and domestic player Pantech & Curitel also plans 96 MB camcorder phones, which will also be capable of over 1 megapixel in image resolution.

As flash memory prices come down, there has been a trend to towards handheld devices storing ever more copious amounts of data.

Motorola will release at the end of the year a mobile phone that can record video clips and store large images of road maps, while in September, Sony will upgrade the quality of video its Clie line of handhelds can capture, according to a recent Reuters report.

By 2007, most flash memory cards will be used in mobile phones, according to technology research firm Gartner. "As memory becomes more abundant, as the cost per bit starts to fall, then you see increasingly richer experiences on the devices," Rob Shaddock, general manager for Motorola's GSM/TDMA product group was quoted as saying.

Industry estimates forecast that flash revenue will hit $13bn (£8.04bn) this year, up from $7.7bn in 2002. By 2007, flash memory is expected to be a $43bn industry.

ZDNet Australia's Fran Foo contributed to the report.