How phoneArena readers use their smartphone cameras: poll recap

Before we do that, let's make something clear. These polls are not representative for all smartphone users, mostly because our audience is predominantly male. But although we can't draw conclusions for the general population, it's still interesting to look at the results, so let's do that!

Which camera do you use more often?

Rear camera(s)

83.59%

Selfie camera

3.56%

I use both almost equally

12.85%

What do you use your camera most for?

To take photos

91.1%

To record videos

8.9%

These two polls have the two most dominant answers. This makes one thing certain: manufacturers are spending extra resources on the rear camera modules with good reason. Sure, men aren't much into selfies, which definitely has its influence on the results. Still, it's obvious that taking photos with the main cameras is what users prefer to do.

Social media likely plays a big role in the major preference of pictures over videos. In today's busy world, sharing a photo is much quicker to do and easier for others to "consume". Videos might be getting some love from apps like TikTok and Instagram's stories, but they're still far behind the good, old pictures.

Which resolution/fps combo do you use when recording a video?

720p 30fps

4.24%

1080p 30fps

20.42%

1080p 60fps

42%

4K 30fps

12.91%

4K 60fps

20.42%

Another result that's hardly surprising. 1080p @ 60fps is the sweet spot for video recording right now and that's totally understandable. The extra pixels of 4K video aren't worth much on mobile displays and just eat away your storage. But every modern display can show you 60 frames per second, so why not take advantage of that?

And when people do want 4K quality, they go all out, it seems, jumping straight to 60fps. There's some logic behind that decision as well. These are the people that likely need the videos for something more serious, in which case the extra frames are always good to have.

Which of these camera modes do you use most often?

Portrait mode

38.37%

Night mode

31.6%

Slow-motion video mode

3.39%

Panorama mode

4.29%

Pro mode

22.35%

Whether it's because of the heavy marketing or just because they answer people's needs, Portrait mode and Night mode are the top two modes people use after the default one.

Pro mode has gathered a larger-than-expected number of votes, however. It appears that our users like to tinker with the settings quite a bit, which honestly doesn't surprise us.

Slow-motion takes the last place likely due to its niche use. That's exactly why we made a slow-motion video comparison. It deserves more love! Most people probably never even tried shooting a slow-motion video, which is a shame.

Panoramas, well, they're usually reserved for epic locations we don't really find ourselves often in. Making a panorama of your back yard isn't really social-media worthy.

How often do you use your camera app’s filters and beauty mode?

Regularly, that’s how I make my photos stand out!

5.74%

Occasionally, it’s fun to experiment with them.

8.2%

Rarely, only if I’m trying to make something special.

21.86%

Never, I like to keep things natural.

64.21%

Camera filters? Not in our phoneArena! Over half of our users won't touch a filter with a 6 feet pole and barely 5% use them regularly. We can't say we were shocked by these results, all things considered. Still, it's good to see that at least some people are putting some extra effort into their shots, even if that means taking them further from reality.

How often do you post pictures and videos on social media?

Every day, my life is online!

2.3%

A couple of times a week or so, I like to be involved.

6.23%

A few times a month, only when I have something really cool to post.

27.87%

Very rarely, I'm not an active social media user.

31.8%

Never, I only lurk.

31.8%

Well, this question more or less explains the answers from the previous one. About 93% of our users rarely or never post any pictures or videos on social media. That doesn't necessarily mean they're not on social media, though. It seems that men often prefer to remain passive participants of the social media extravaganza and aren't too eager to contribute with content.

Although that would be very unscientific to do, we can't help but notice that the percentages of people that use selfie cameras, filters and post regularly on social media are very close to each other. Is there a connection? Maybe. We can't really say since the polls were posted at different times and we have no data of the overlap of users between the different ones.

With that said, we're declaring our little experiment completed.