Bought a DLSR camera a while back and enrolled in a weekly photography class at a film school for a year. Now I barely touch this camera. It's pretty bulky and I can take equally nice shots using my smartphone camera (good enough for sharing with friends and for own memories).
The only times I would want to use a DLSR camera over my smartphone is when I intend to make a big print of the photo, so I care a lot more about the resolution.
You cannot get a decent amount of control with a phone. Want to shoot at 1/15 and get partial and intentful motion blur? Want to do night time street photography, shoot at 1/60, 2.0f and cap the iso at 3200 max?
A phone may be OK for a selfie, but any kind of real artistic expression beyond really basic photography concepts and you won't get far.
> Poorly lit.
Better cameras capture more light.
> Out of focus.
Better cameras auto-focus faster and choose target points better.
> Half the subject out of frame.
High resolution cameras can capture an image for later cropping without early zooming.
I once had to help judge a couple of photo contests where members of the general public sent in pictures. They were taken on everything from low-end telephones to high-end mirroess rigs. 99.95% of then were utter crap, regardless of the platform. Poorly lit. Out of focus. Half the subject out of frame.
People will spend $3,000 on new camera gear when they should be spending $200 on a basic photography class at a camera store or community college.