Londoners hate 76 per cent of the photos taken on their smartphone

And 15 per cent have secretly deleted pictures from someone else’s phone

New research out today from Huawei has revealed the extent to which modern Londoners have become “picture perfectionists,” with the average person in London having a staggering 937 pictures saved on their smartphone, but only truly liking 24 per cent of them.

The study of over 2,000 Brits found that looking bad in a photo 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’ in smartphone galleries across London.

Top five reasons we don’t like the photos on our smartphones:

1. I don’t look good (45%)
2. Bad lighting (44%)
3. Blurry (34%)
4. Out of focus (32%)
5. Not being able to get the right shot (32%)

Huawei commissioned the research to discover the photography frustrations 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 people in London only end up using 27 per cent of the shots they take at any one time, and once taking a shot they like, will spend 5 minutes and 40 seconds on average to edit, crop and add a filter to the image before posting it on social media.

“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,” said Justin Costello, Head of Marketing for Huawei UK & Ireland. “At Huawei we are leading a renaissance in photography. The new P20, which launches on the 27^th 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
• 51% of Londoners 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

• 22% of Londoners 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.