The portrait/bokeh effect is a joke. Please look at the photo of the yellow can and look at the top of the can.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/petapixel/43831801325/in/album-72157699852263981/
All this bokeh effect is doing is detecting people/objects, cutting around them and artificially blurring the background with generally poor results.
Ask yourself why the new XR with a single lens camera still has this bokeh feature when it isnt able to produce proper depth maps like the dual camera models are capable of. It’s because the bokeh effect really isnt using a proper depth map to detect objects.
Also look at the photo with the man wearing sunglasses.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/petapixel/44691193082/in/album-72157699852263981/
The reflected image in his sunglasses should be blurred but it’s sharp even though the reflected objects are at distance, as the image processor has simply masked the whole man and blurred the rest.
This effect does a diservice to the legacy of great photography on iphones. Iphones were always a great introduction to the workd of photography for young people or first timers. Now it’s just teaching people not to have respect or understanding for the basic principles of photography and instead leading them towards cheap, lazy gimmicks.