The Korean photobooth trend: why it spread and where it goes next

Walk through almost any neighbourhood in Seoul and you'll pass a self-photo studio: a bright room with a few booths, a wall of props, a mirror, and groups of friends coming out with fresh strips. Over the past few years that format has travelled. Korean-style photo booths now sit in cafés in Chicago, beauty pop-ups in Europe and stores in the Philippines.

We design and supply Korean-style photobooths from Singapore to businesses in 30+ countries, so we've watched this spread from the inside. This article looks at what the search data says, why the format works, and what we think comes next.

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What the search data shows

Google search demand is a useful way to see a trend without relying on hype. Here's US monthly search volume from Google Keyword Planner for a few of the terms we track:

Source: Google Keyword Planner, US monthly searches.

Three things stand out.

The category grew a lot. Searches for "photobooth" rose by nearly half between 2022 and mid-2026, even after easing from the 2025 peak.

"Korean photo booth" became its own thing. In 2022 very few Americans searched for it by name. Two years later it was around four times higher. People weren't just looking for a photo booth; they were looking for this specific style.

Formats have life cycles. "High angle photobooth" didn't register as a search in 2022, peaked in 2025 and is already cooling. That's a useful reminder for operators: build your business on the experience, not on one buzzword.

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Why the Korean format caught on

It's an experience, not a transaction

A Korean-style studio isn't a booth in a corridor. It's a place you go with friends. You pick props, check your hair in the mirror, choose a frame, take your shots and leave with something to keep. The photo is the souvenir of an outing.

Better light, better photos

Korean booths brought studio thinking to a self-service machine: bright, even lighting, a good camera and controlled exposure. The results look closer to a studio portrait than the grainy strips many people remember, sitting somewhere between retro and digital and taking the best of both.

Tangible in a digital world

People take thousands of photos on their phones and look at very few of them again. A printed strip is different. It goes in a wallet, on a fridge, behind a phone case. The same shift that brought back film cameras and vinyl brought people back to prints.

Built for sharing

Every session produces two things: a print to keep and a QR code for the digital copy. The print is the keepsake, and the digital file goes straight to Instagram and TikTok. For a business, every post is free advertising with your name in the frame.

Culture pulled it along

K-pop, K-dramas and K-beauty made Korean everyday culture familiar far beyond Korea. For many fans, a Korean photo booth is a small, affordable way to take part in that culture wherever they live.

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Where the trend is showing up

The format now works well beyond dedicated studios. A few examples from businesses running our booths:

• Hello Kitty Cafe Chicago. Sanrio's Chicago flagship has a booth with a fully custom exterior in the café's own palette, a branded on-screen interface and custom collection graphics. Visitors travel to the café, and the print becomes another exclusive item made on the premises.
• Yepoda. The Berlin-based K-beauty brand used a high-angle booth at a pop-up store whose concept was to "bring a bit of Seoul to Italy". For a brand that mostly lives online, the booth gave customers somewhere to stand inside the brand.
• Sunnies Studios. The Philippine eyewear and lifestyle group sells products people choose by looking at their own face. The booth captures that habit and puts the brand in the frame.

The common thread: each business already had customers taking photos. The booth gave that habit a place to happen and put the brand's name on the result. See more on our clients page.

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Where it goes next

Based on what we see in our own installations and events, here's where we think the Korean photobooth trend is heading.

Collectible formats

Strips are just the start. Guests increasingly want things they can collect and trade: mini strips that fit behind a phone case, lenticular prints that move when you tilt them, magnets, photo buttons and trading cards. We've printed collectible trading cards for conference guests in Singapore, and every card became a conversation starter. Expect studios to rotate formats the way cafés rotate seasonal menus.

More personalisation

Custom frames for birthdays, holidays, collaborations and local events keep regulars coming back. Operators who change frames often give people a reason to return. Our frame design guide covers how.

AI, used lightly

AI styles and retouching are arriving in booths, but the photos that sell best still look like the people in them. We expect AI to be an optional extra, not a replacement for good lighting.

Destinations, not machines

The next step is spaces built around the experience itself. In Singapore we're creating Chalkak Collective, Asia's first photobooth museum, with themed stations and a passport you stamp as you go. You can take the 360° tour now.

New markets

Search demand grew first in big cities with large K-culture audiences. It's now spreading to smaller cities, malls and tourist spots where the format is still new. Being the first Korean-style booth in your area is a real advantage: May Film opened the first photobooth studio in its city, Adelaide, with three of our machines.

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What this means if you're thinking of opening a booth

• The demand is real, but it's maturing. Growth has eased from its peak. Location and experience matter more now than simply being new.
• Offer more than one format so customers have a reason to come back.
• Design matters. A custom exterior and frames make you the place people post about.
• Pick formats with staying power. The eye-level Korean strip is the core. Add angles and collectibles on top. See types of photo booths.