Let’s talk about the newest trend taking hold of Gen Z: snapping photos with old iPhones, specifically the 5MP iPhone 4 from 2010. This trend seems to be a natural extension of their love for Y2K-era compact cameras.
While the allure of vintage cameras is nothing new, shifting to old camera phones adds a unique twist. Camera phones weren’t exactly stellar back then—the original iPhone didn’t even release until 2007. Despite this, the 14-year-old iPhone 4 is now a coveted gadget among younger generations, giving them a dose of the same nostalgia older folks feel when shooting on film.
The phenomenon isn’t hard to understand. As a xennial, I appreciate old-school film looks—from Tri-X to dollar store disposables—and dig the low-fi charm of VHS tapes and Nintendo 64 graphics. But old digital cameras and phones? They just seem to offer poor image quality and bad sensors. For Gen Z, though, it’s a different story. In Japan, some people are even carrying two phones—one for regular use and an old iPhone just for photos.
Photographer Takanobu Sasaki has been sharing photos taken with his iPhone 4 on Instagram. ‘When you take a normal photo, there’s a lot of camera shake, but that blur actually adds a nice touch to the photo,’ he says. ‘With the iPhone 4, the contrast is set high. There’s no automatic correction, and the shadows are clear, so the photos look a bit like they were taken with an old camera, which makes them more emotional.’
A 21-year-old student echoed this sentiment: ‘I often carry around my old iPhone and take photos and videos and post them to my [Instagram] story. It’s easy because the colors and other aspects look good and emotional even without editing.’
I can’t help but wonder what today’s young generation will find nostalgic about current camera technology years from now. Maybe they’ll romanticize today’s overdone HDR effects the same way they cherish the imperfections of old iPhone photos.
If you get a bit of a nostalgia kick from this, you might want to explore other retro cameras or vintage lenses. Gen Z’s love for old tech proves one thing: everything old becomes new again.
