27% of Photos and Videos Now Captured on Smartphones [STUDY]

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The percentage of photos taken with a smartphone went from 17% to 27%, a 44% increase from the year previous, according to a survey conducted by NPD Group. Meanwhile, sales of point-and-shoot cameras dropped 17% in volume and 18% in revenue in the first 11 months of 2011. Individual sales of pocket camcorders dropped 13%, with a 10% decrease in revenue.

Higher-end items performed better: Sales of cameras with detachable lenses (average price: $863) increased by 12%, and sales of point-and-shoot cameras with optical zooms of 10x or greater (average price: $247) grew by 16%.

Liz Cutting, executive director and senior imaging analyst at NPD, acknowledged that smartphones are taking the place of point-and-shoot cameras and camcorders in many instances -- particularly "spontaneous moments" -- but for important events, single-purpose cameras and camcorders remain the device of choice.

We asked Flickr reps if they were seeing a similar in increase in mobile uploads. The company said traffic to its mobile site doubled this year, and uploads from mobile sources has increased eightfold in the last two years.