No, definitely not. It is changing, but nowhere near dead.
As of early 2026, there are approximately 61,400 pictures taken every second. 1.8 trillion for the year.
What has changed is the gear used. As of early 2026, between 92% and 94% of all pictures taken are with cell phone cameras. Not cameras, cell phones.
I know what you are thinking, these are mainly for social media posting.
That's just not the case. Here's an example. Photographer friends, in their late 70's, travels to a foreign country each year. They used Canon mid-range cameras and zoom lenses to capture their travels ... that is until three years ago. Their health changed, and their ability to carry the camera gear they needed changed. They invested in a cell phone with a good quality camera and are selling off all of their camera gear.
Does the cell phone camera provide the quality they are used to? For the intended use, the answer is yes - absolutely yes. Look at some basics of photography: to achieve excellent quality 8 x 10 frame photo, all you need is a 12 megapixel camera. The megapixel wars of cameras is a big marketing "fraud". The two best uses of megapixel cameras are for larger prints (think in terms of 24" wide or even wider) and, more likely, when you want to seriously crop to compensate for reach. With a 45 megapixel camera, you can easily achieve a 3X crop and still get 8 x 10 excellent quality. Put that into perspective, you can go "birding" with a 300mm lens and achieve the same reach as a 900mm lens. This isn't science fiction, it's been the basis of crop sensor cameras for decades ... apply it to full frame high megapixel and you are basing your shots on the same tactics as widely used.
But, I digress. Cell phone cameras have much smaller sensors than crop sensor or full frame sensor cameras. The advantage, though, is the software behind these cameras far exceeds the capabilities of traditional cameras. Look at image quality: when you compare the sensor to the image quality, cell phone cameras do a significantly better job of interpreting the digital data submitted by the sensor and rendering an excellent image. It's this very capability that becomes a valid consideration for photographers to use in place of heavier cameras and interchangeable lenses.
I find the cameras in my Samsung cell phone quite acceptable. Where I start to question the image quality is when zooming. My previous Samsung phone was an S21 Ultra with a 100X zoom capability. At that zoom, the image was basically a useless blob. But at a more reasonable zoom ratio of up to 10X, the image quality is more than acceptable. I had purchased the S21 Ultra for its camera capabilities. When it became time to upgrade, I didn't waste my $$ on the higher end Ultra, the Samsung S25 + was more than acceptable.
I used to go out of my way to make sure I had a camera with me most of the time. I'm not so diligent anymore – as long as I have a cell phone camera with me.
Cell phone cameras are part of photography, there just isn't any denying it. You can tell just by the overall number of shots taken daily.