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UK Smartphone Photo Statistics 2020: Report Reveals How Many Images We’re Storing
Throughout lockdown and into the summer, social media has become a hot bed for people wanting to share their experiences. We’ve become more and more reliant on our smartphones to keep in touch with loved ones. We launched the “Smartphone Photos Survey” in July 2020 to gauge how many images we stored on our mobile devices. Additionally, we wanted to discover whether lockdown had led to a surge in using camera phones. Finally, we wanted to understand which platforms we’re using to share our photographs. Read on to discover our smartphone photo statistics.
Number of photographs stored on UK smartphones
We can reveal that more than 11% of us have more than 7,500 images on our phones. With more than one in ten confessing to having such a high number of photos on their smartphone it’s clear to see that for many in the UK the smartphone is becoming the home for their photographs. Even more staggering, 8% of respondents said they had more than 10,000 images on their phone.
That being said, according to our study, 60% of us have less than 1,000 photographs stored on our mobile device.
65% of men confess to having fewer than 1,000 images compared to 54% of women. We also found that 15% of 25-34-year-olds have over 10,000 photos on their phone, 82% of those over 65 have less than 1,000 and one in 10 women aged 18-24 have over 10,000 images stored on their smartphone.
Most popular platform for sending photographs
Looking at the platforms we use for sharing, 43% of people prefer to send pictures via WhatsApp. Facebook Messenger is the second most popular platform with 23% saying they use this the most for image sharing.
We can also reveal that women are more likely to share images via Instagram than men. According to Smart Insights, Snapchat key demographics are 13 to 29-year olds with 69% of 13 to 17-year-olds using the app and 62% of 18 to 29-year-olds using it. This is backed up by our study which found less than 3% of over 45s use Snapchat for image sharing.
UK Lockdown: Did we find ourselves sending more images?
Our study also looked into how lockdown affected how many photographs we take, store and send. We can reveal that:
- One in five of us sent more photos during lockdown than usual
- A higher percentage of women admitted to sharing more images during lockdown than men
- Those in the 18-24 age bracket were more likely to have sent a higher number of pictures in lockdown than any other age group.
Additional Comments
Commenting on the study, Cartridge People Managing Director John Flanagan said: “It’s clear that our smartphones are being relied upon more and more for storing and sharing images. However, it shouldn’t be lost that it’s still possible to print images in albums that can be physically shared with loved ones. These actual albums can be a way of keeping photographs that are more important to you. Trying to sort through 10,000 images could be a huge headache if you’re looking for one from a specific event to share. Printing photos at home is now an easy and affordable task and having hard copies of images can be a unique way of documenting the events of the past few months and how they’ve impacted you personally.”
Abdul Shakur from Etica Leaders, commented: “Platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are on the rise due to people not having that connection with others whilst living being at home, this has then a direct impact on the amount of attention we need as extroverts to keep us sane. This is why Instagram has been popular especially for those who are used to going out all the time.
“The challenge here is, due to the fact that people aren’t dealing with their own personal battles especially being at home, they can’t throw their efforts into work or social life. The only remaining way to help them feel great or be accepted is by taking images, posting them online and making themselves feel great.
“Images are a bit like clothes. We can’t let go of them because they make us feel a certain way. Taking a selfie and making yourself feel great has the same emotional effect as shopping. By seeing our clothes or images it’s a reminder that we are amazing. Social media isn’t that much different.”
Information For Journalists
The dataset from our study is also available on request.
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