This headline might not be the most shocking, particularly given the ubiquity of smartphone devices.
But what is quite overwhelming is the sheer data backing this up and for that, we thank the folks over at Digital Camera World and photo printing chain Max Spielmann.
It also somewhat quantifies the shift in the art that we are currently witnessing. From the rise of smartphone photography to future innovations such as making 3D cameras commonplace, some days it feels like things are moving way too rapidly for comfort. And there is also the emergence of artificial intelligence and its ability to generate entire scenes from text descriptions or make massive changes to existing photos with minimal human direction. In other words, smartphone photography isn’t only the dominant force, it is the herald of an entirely new paradigm.
According to the data that you can view here at this link, 1.8 trillion photos are taken every single year. If you guessed the vast majority of those were intended for a social media platform, you’d be right. Of this overwhelming number, Max Spielmann estimates that 7.5% are taken using a traditional camera.
If you compared this figure with just a decade ago, not to mention twenty years ago when none of this existed really, the rise of the smartphone camera is seismic in its shift for the industry. Imagine making the argument in 2008 that the majority of pictures in the future would be taken with a cellphone; not only would it sound fanciful, but it would also sound mad given the disparity in technology. Again, smartphone photography is just the beginning of a new era and this data really underscores that.
Any thoughts you might have on smartphone photography compared with more traditional methods are welcome in the comments below.
We have some other photography news you might like to read right here.
