> instagram drives a good percentage of camera upgrades, sadly.

How is that sad? People who enjoy a social networking site mostly about photos need cameras. Making a purchase based on real world examples of something that you find interesting/enjoy is not a negative thing. The capabilities of the new phone cameras are often very noticeable and very different, especially recently with low light, wide angle, good HDR, and portrait modes, which could only be found in dedicated cameras, which these people are not interested in. That's the progression and normalization of "high tech". That's fine.

Hmm... Apple already has a "social network" with iMessage. It would be interesting if they made an Instagram competitor, so you can publish photos/videos for friends. But I guess the main pull of Instagram is that you can reach the general public and be "an influencer".

iMessage meets nobody’s definition of a ‘social network’. It’s a chat app / messenger.

Anyone remember Ping? Now, that was a real social network!

You can already share "Abums" from Photos in the Apple ecosystem. Yeah, not the same thing.