Shipments of accelerometers, gyroscopes, compasses and pressure sensors will hit 2.3bn.
ARCchart says combined shipments of these components was 271 million units in 2009, so this represents a massive leap on current performance.
Accelerometers are expected to lead, with 55 per cent of phones containing them by 2014, while pressure sensors will see the least penetration.
Much depends, of course, on the growth of applications such as augmented reality that utilise these technologies. The combining of multiple sensors onto a single chip should help too.
For the manufacturers, mobile represents a potential windfall after years of focusing on other industries such as automotive and medical.
"In a climate of increased competition and falling ASP, support for advanced sensor interfaces, as Apple has done with gyroscopes in the iPhone 4, provides handset OEMs with clear technical differentiations, and also helps drive the upgrade cycle," said Peter Crocker, the lead analyst on the ARCchart study.
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"This is becoming particularly important in the smartphone segment of the market which has become highly competitive."
