Will mobile phones ever replace the camera?

Posted: 5 February 2009

One of the most common features found across almost the whole spectrum of mobile phones available is the camera. From inauspicious beginnings as a clip-on extra for Ericsson phones, up to the modern marketplace, where brands such as Cyber-Shot reign supreme, camera phones have gone from strength to strength.

A common question, however, is whether the camera phone will one day replace the standalone digital camera. As they grow ever more powerful, they move closer and closer to the market dominated by the likes of Kodak, Canon and Olympus. The question has become more pertinent in recent months, with the introduction of camera phones that come with 8 megapixel cameras built in, allowing them to produce a level of detail, and a pixel resolution previously only seen in dedicated digital cameras.

The first example of its kind to be announced in the UK was the Sony Ericsson C905, and it was this handset which set the benchmark for all 8 megapixel camera phones that followed it. In its case, however, the quality wasn't simply due to the number of pixels the camera could capture, because the C905 also drew technology from the world of dedicated cameras, and specifically, the Cyber-Shot range by Sony. This allows it to utilise technology such as image stabiliser and face detection, to further enhance the photos it can produce, and that is a significant factor in why the C905 is so successful. At the time of its unveiling, no other camera phones could match it in terms of picture quality.

The launch of the C905 led to an explosion of 8 megapixel camera phones, with handsets like the LG Renoir, as well as the Samsung Pixon and INNOV8, taking the market by storm. With the success of these 8 megapixel camera phones, it became apparent that a shift in the marketplace was indeed underway, with people flocking to buy these powerful new imaging devices. So, in answer to the question of whether mobile phones will replace cameras, it could be easily argued that to certain demographics of customers, they already have. The 8 megapixel barrier, as some commentators have called it, marks the point where camera phones are producing images as sharp as some digital cameras, and the buying patterns of customers seems to support that view. It seems logical to deduce that many of those users are in fact replacing a dedicated camera with a camera phone.

There is even more compelling evidence that phones have already replaced cameras, but it's not to be found in the realm of top-end devices like the LG Renoir. Attention must be focused, instead, on the world of cheap camera phones, a world where larger cameras are shunned, and value is the key decision in making a purchase. Within the world of cheap camera phones, such as the Sony Ericsson S302, the ability to instantly snap photos on the fly is the most sought after feature.

Cheap camera phones like that are the equivalent of a Kodak Instamatic camera, or one of the hundreds of disposable cameras available on the market. After considering the simple fact that, for example, most photos taken at parties or during a night on the town will be taken with camera phones rather than disposable cameras, it becomes hard to reach any other conclusion than the obvious: cheap camera phones have already become the tool of choice for people who want a quick, easy way to take photos wherever they are.

There is one sector, however, where camera phones haven't truly taken over. Whilst top-end handsets have become imaging solutions for a huge number of people, and whilst chap camera phones have cornered the market for simple, snapshot phones, the enthusiasts and professionals have yet to see a camera phone that can match the performance of very high-spec cameras. At the moment, there isn't a handset that can match things like digital-SLR cameras, for image quality. Big lenses, a full CCD (as opposed to CMOS, the type seen in camera phones like the C905) sensor, and optical zoom are just some examples of the things that camera phones will have to evolve to firmly enter the world of top-end cameras.

However, with the rate of technological progress showing no sign of slowing, surely it can only be a matter of time until such a camera phone exists. And when that happens, the phone will truly replace the camera...