IPhone to Become Top Camera on Flickr

By Kendra Srivastava | Mon Apr 18, 2011 1:00 pm
The iPhone 4 is overtaking all other cameras on Flickr, signaling the increased pressure that camera phones are applying to point-and shoot cameras.

Flickr's numbers indicate the iPhone 4 is about to become king of the photo sharing site, beating out even high-end cameras like the Nikon D90 and popular cameras like the Canon Powershots.
The fact that people carry their phones everywhere -- and that image quality continues to improve and is "good enough" for most snapshot applications -- helps explain the iPhone's Flickr dominance.
Smartphones also offer the ability to instantly upload photos, which users hooked on social media and live updates may value more than pure picture quality.
In 2009, the iPhone overtook the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi, but at the time Flickr was lumping every iPhone model into one category. Now it looks like the iPhone 4 will reach the top all by itself.
Smartphone sales are projected to rise to 361 million units this year versus digital cameras' 130 million. By 2014, traditional digital cameras will face a sharp decline as smartphones increasingly supplant them for everyday photography.
Smartphone imaging will also continue get better, even if it always lags behind dedicated cameras. A recent leak suggests that HTC is planning a 16-megapixel camera phone.

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