New research from mobile tech giants Huawei has exposed the extent to which Brits have become a nation of ‘photo perfectionists’, with the average Brit storing a staggering 783 pictures on their smartphone. The issue is that it appears from this research, they only genuinely like 25% of them

The study, which was conducted by Ginger Comms on behalf of Huawei in an online survey of 2,006 UK adults between March 13-15 2018, discovered that looking bad in a photograph tops the list of reasons why people don’t like the photos stored on their phone, while poor lighting and blurry images are also responsible for the ‘photo clutter’ stored in so many UK smartphones.

Top five smartphone photo bugbears:

1. I don’t look good [47%]
2. Bad lighting [40%]
3. Blurry [33%]
4. Out of focus [32%]
5. Not being able to get the right shot [29%]

Huawei commissioned the research to discover the photo frustrations that smartphone users have with their devices, with poor low light photography, blurry action shots and poor zoom quality all featuring in the list of gripes. The research revealed that Brits only end up using 34% of the shots they take at any one time, and once taking a shot they like, will spend an average of 4 minutes and 30 seconds to edit, crop and add a filter to the image before posting it on social media!

Justin Costello, Head of Marketing for Huawei UK & Ireland, told PhotoBite: “With smartphones always by our side, it’s become easier than ever to take a photo and instantly share it with our friends and family. But in the era of social media, the quest for posting a perfect photo means many will take several shots before capturing one they are truly happy with. At Huawei we are leading a renaissance in photography. The new P20, which launches on the 27th of March, will make it easier than ever to capture the perfect photo, everytime.”

The Selfish Cull

• More than one in ten women [15%] have secretly gone into a friend or partner’s phone to delete a picture of themselves that they did not like
• 68% of men and 81% of women immediately delete a picture if they feel they do not look their best in it
• 49% of Brits have deleted a great picture of their family or friends, simply because they didn’t look good in it themselves.

Second-rate selfies

• Just 17% of people in Liverpool like the way they look in the pictures stored on their phone
• The ‘selfie’ is losing popularity among modern Brits, with only 22% saying selfies were the shots they take the most on their phones. When it comes to what we snap the most, 66% take the most pictures of their family, while almost half [46%] prefer taking pictures of nature and 38% enjoy taking images with their friends the most
• People in Birmingham are the biggest ‘photo critics’, and have to take more snaps than anywhere else in the UK to get a shot they are happy with

  Photo Fiends

• 20% of Brits have had a row with a partner or friend over whether or not a photo should be deleted permanently from social media
• 16% of women and 10% of men have actively posted a picture online in which a friend looked terrible because they looked good in it themselves
• When the shoe is on the other foot, it appears the nation aren’t so generous, with 14 percent of women and 10 percent of men confessing they have kept a photo on their phone that they look great in, despite a friend having asked for it be deleted

To find out more about Huawei’s renaissance in photography.