> But the camera upgrades alone are usually worth it.

That assumes you have any sort of use for the camera, otherwise it just makes the phone look freakier and freakier for no reason.

Yes that assumes you have use for the camera. Anyone who doesn’t really has no reason to read new phone launch press releases (since about 5 years ago). They are now cameras with other smart phone features tacked on. Incremental increases to cpu/memory/battery/storage but big improvements to picture quality (such as a full stop or two of sensitivity)

> Yes that assumes you have use for the camera. Anyone who doesn’t really has no reason to read new phone launch press releases

There are plenty of reasons to do so e.g. new IME or security systems, hardware upgrades (e.g. computational engines or dedicated hardware), etc…

It's subjective, but cameras are already so good that it hardly makes a difference.

If you have kids, better low light photography is extremely valuable. Many moments with kids are indoors and lighting indoors is usually terrible.

If someone comes out with a point-n-shoot that's about as good as a semi-recent iphone camera, does live photos(!), and has backup-over-wifi I'm back on a dumbphone on release day of that device.

And yeah, entirely for kids.

Live Photos are probably the best feature to ever happen for parents. They are pure magic.

That is what I thought until upgraded from 7 to 10s. Difference in photo quality is 4x.

You get at least two or three stops more sensitivity if you upgrade from 7 to X. It’s an enormous difference when you need it. You can’t take a picture in broad daylight and say “looks nice and crisp, can’t be better”. Take a photo of something moving, indoors and you’ll see it.