In the past year, there's been an influx of mobile devices that tout various advances in camera technology. To help you identify which new devices are uniquely suited for photography, we reveal the smartphone model that photography enthusiasts are adopting most.
Flurry Analytics, owned by Verizon Media, is used in over 1 million mobile applications, providing aggregated insights across 2 billion mobile devices per month. For this analysis, we focus on Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy devices that launched during 2020. Note that we don’t review the latest Galaxy S21 line, as its 2021 launch two months ago is too recent for us to assess lasting consumer preferences. First, Flurry looked at U.S. mobile app users active in the past 3 months, which we refer to as the “general population.” We then defined photography enthusiasts as the subset of mobile users active on professional photo editing apps. Let’s start by reviewing the install base of the iPhone 12 series among photography enthusiasts compared to the general population.
In the chart above, we show smartphone preferences across the iPhone 12 line among the general population in the top row compared to photography enthusiasts in the bottom row. We show the share captured by device, and color code each segment by device price point. For example, the iPhone 12 Pro is a device that captures the greatest share difference among photo enthusiasts (33%) compared to the general population (23%), and it’s color coded a medium blue denoting a midrange price of around $1,000. With a more advanced camera for just $200 more than the base iPhone 12 model, the iPhone 12 Pro camera features appear to resonate among photo enthusiasts. The iPhone 12 Pro Max, which is also the most popular iPhone 12 device, appeals slightly more to photo enthusiasts (44%) than to the general population (41%).
Let’s next review the install base of the Galaxy S20 series among photography enthusiasts versus the general population.
The chart above shows that photography enthusiasts and the general population share the same order of smartphone preferences in the Galaxy S20 line, albeit in different percentages. Their first choice is the lower-priced Galaxy S20, followed by the midrange priced Galaxy S20+. The least adopted model is the premium Galaxy S20 Ultra. Despite having more advanced front- and rear-facing cameras, the Galaxy S20 Ultra’s premium price tag seems to deter both the general population and photography enthusiasts from electing it as their first choice.
While both photography enthusiasts and the general population’s preferred model is the lower-priced Galaxy S20, we observe the opposite trend in the iPhone 12 line. The most premium model, the iPhone 12 Pro Max, is the most popular phone among both photography enthusiasts and the general population. We think this difference could be due to the Galaxy S20 line being more expensive than the iPhone 12 series, with the lower-priced Galaxy S20 model being as expensive as the midrange iPhone 12 Pro model. This difference could also result from Apple and Samsung having different customer profiles.
Note that for both the iPhone 12 and Galaxy S20 series, photography enthusiasts tend to adopt more premium-priced phones with higher-end cameras than the general population. As a result, photography enthusiasts seem to be less price-sensitive than the rest of the population, or the extent to which they value the high-end camera supersedes their sensitivity to price.
Summary
- In the iPhone 12 line, the premium-priced iPhone 12 Pro Max is the most adopted smartphone by the general U.S. population and photography enthusiasts alike. By contrast, the lowest-priced base Galaxy S20 model is the most preferred phone in the Galaxy S20 series.
- Among smartphones in the iPhone 12 and Galaxy S20 series, the iPhone 12 Pro is the only model that photography enthusiasts rank higher than the general population. It is the second most adopted model in the iPhone 12 line among photography enthusiasts, while it ranks as the third most adopted phone in the general population. The iPhone 12 Pro model therefore uniquely appeals to photography enthusiasts and appears to be particularly well suited for photography.
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