The fact a lot of camera makers like Hasselblad are teaming up with phone companies such as Oppo suggests that they've seen how far cameras on phones have become.
The majority of the public want something they can share on social media or to their families which is why phones have become more important than even portable digital cameras.
Indeed. When Huawei partnered with Leica, it wasn't just a cheap license deal. Leica actually customised the camera app considerably, right down to the trademark colour profiles. They also played a part in ensuring the camera lenses were of a good enough quality. Even today, the P30 Pro still takes stunning photos that can compete with current-day models and even fool people into thinking the photos must be on a more recent model.
Today you have Vivo with Zeiss, Oppo and OnePlus with Hasselblad, and Xiaomi with Leica (Leica ended its partnership with Huawei not long after Huawei's ban on using Google Services effectively killed sales globally).
Apple create this aura that they can fix all the issues that real world mechanical and elctronic shortcomings can be fixed with their software. It's a myth of course but because much of the company's following is almost cult like, there are many who never question their word from on high. That is until one of their mistakes is so obvious like an aerial that didn't work (iPhone 4 ISTR) that the engineering world just laughed at it. The fanboys (and girls) were easily bought of by a free trendy bumper case.
Things have moved on a lot since 2010. Sure, you still have the fanboys, but camera tech has advanced at an incredible pace. Today, you can buy a smartphone for £300-400 and it will have an excellent main camera. It may not do 4K or 8K, and may not have a telephoto or ultrawide camera, or capture great photos in near pitch black conditions, but it will still be excellent for the photos 99% of consumers take.
I disagree. Although many may never print their 'more successful' pictures*, with an increasingly greater number of people having UHD TVs at home, that has become a convenient viewer for photo collections, usually by plugging in a USB pen drive.
* A very high proportion of pictures on smartphones never leave the phone' s internal memory, and are ditched with the phone at the end of its 2-4 year life.
Most phones will pixel bin to 12MP, which seems to have become the accepted standard no matter how many megapixels or the image sensor size. Many phones will capture multiple images at different exposures so quick, it can then stitch together an excellent HDR photo in no time - making it possible to take multiple shots/burst photos with ease. Some phones will even take photos automatically, such as the Honor Magic 5 Pro, based on AI to spot the right moment (again, not something a pro might want, but consumers absolutely do). Such modes are ideal for kids and pets.
A 12MP image will be too big to view on even a 4K display and will be downscaled. This then means you can zoom in and not lose detail - indeed it's
required to see the detail in the image!