Photos, inflicted
The current uptick in smartphone photo taking is partially driven by the pleasure of capturing a moment and partially by the instant, positive feedback available when uploading a photo to social media or sending it to friends.
Currently, more than one tenth of UK consumers take photos every day. Among UK adults with a smartphone, all but 5% have used their devices to take a photo while two thirds upload or share their creations via social networks and IM (instant messaging).
Figure 1. Frequency of taking, sharing or uploading photos to file storage sites
Q. How frequently, if at all, do you do each of the following on your smartphone? (Take photos, upload/share photos on social networks or IM apps, upload photos to a file storage site)
Weighted base: Respondents who own or have access to a smartphone (3,039)
Source: UK edition, Deloitte Global Mobile Consumer Survey, May - Jun 2015
Note: Responses for “weekly” exclude respondents who take photos “daily”
Faster network speeds encourage photo sharing, and the UK public has taken up the habit – albeit to differing degrees – according to gender and age. Whereas half of all UK smartphone owners use their device to take a photo at least weekly, that proportion is just 27% among 65-75 year-olds.
The most prolific snappers are 18-34 year old women – 75% take photos on their smartphones on a weekly basis. Women are also more likely to share photos on a weekly basis – a third of female adults to do so compared to a quarter of men.
All this sharing is having a significant impact on network traffic. It is also driving mobile data use while abroad, since many travellers prefer uploading and sharing photos to the old-fashioned postcard. This offers an opportunity for operators to differentiate their service, by offering low-cost or no cost roaming.
As for the smartphone vendors, they have long differentiated their models on photographic capability. We feel, however, they should focus on innovations that are desired by users – such as better selfies through improvements to the front-facing camera – and not be lured into a specification race that only pleases the device’s creators.