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My own rant...

@canned_tuna_og I get it. Apple is playing follow the leader too much these days. Bigger and bigger phablet displays, widgets on the Home screen, HomePod mini, Apple One, and so many more. I'm not saying ignore demand, but this obsession with beating the competition at their own game as well as the greed of trying to conquer every market has destroyed Apple's focus (no pun intended, though a fun coincidence on the thread topic) i.e. quality. "It just works" meant something, believe it or not. While systems were not infallible -- the infamous "bomb" system error and sad Mac -- users rarely dreaded upgrades and other changes. Sure, at times it was a true quest to find a certain peripheral or software that was Mac OS compatible, but when you got it, it worked 99% of the time. And every software update didn't have a flashy new feature to tout, however, we also didn't face longstanding features suddenly becoming useless. For example, in iOS 13, it wasn't until the final versions that Apple fixed Smart Color Invert, making it consistent and even impressive, dare I say. Then iOS 14 launches and Smart Invert is back to a glitchy, unpredictable mess. For those of us who benefit greatly from such accessibility features, that's a huge drawback in user experience. And I haven't yet mentioned the truly bold Jobs innovations/transitions: iMac with its USB peripheral only support, iPod with its mini HDD and dial-type scroll wheel, inclusion of CD-RW drives when all else were touting DVD (video) capabilities -- which Apple even temporarily switched to before transitioning to the CD-RW/DVD-ROM "Combo" drives. Quite frankly, Jobs' visions were indeed ahead of their time. They were products no one predicted, including the "One more thing..." -- which is now just the one product most people are chanting for. Ultimately, it's inevitable Apple will eventually fall, like every other company. Sadly, I haven't yet seen their replacement.
 
Keep in mind that most people aren't viewing the iPhone 12 photos next to photos from a different smartphone camera.

I think that a lot of people probably prefer the way that Apple is treating these photos in terms of the sky. Just looking at the top pic, it's a lot "prettier" and more visually appealing. Same with the Long Live Rock photo. It's not great when it tends too blue like in the ship photo, but it's not a bad effect overall.

People want a photo that looks great right out of the camera, and the iPhone is delivering. Viewed alone, I don't think people would see these as bad photos. I agree that the Pixel is the clear winner here in daylight, but I personally like that warmer look for the night photos.
The iphone photos are way out. Pixel is the best in this. Apple needs to spend some dev time on image processing.
 
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A very important test is skin tones, which is not covered here. iPhone cameras and the image processing are just shocking in this area. People's skin is regularly turned into weird matte neon pink colours in sunlight.
 
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Currently have the 11 Max Pro and for a few weeks contemplated on upgrading to the 12 Max Pro . Read many reviews etc plus comparisons with one of the Huawei flagships on the camera side of things on BBC’s tech show Click made me reconsider .
As we are now approaching March , Sept/ Oct 2021 doesn’t seem that far off so will wait and see what the 13 or whatever the superstitious marketing folk at  decide to call it brings to the table .
 
They all have their ups and downs. Just pick whatever camera and software you prefer.
 
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