That article is indeed a counter quote but provides a really bad counter argument. Most people won’t leave their preferred camera at home because they are testing gear or have their only camera clogged with color film.
The professional will create meaningful photography with lowest quality tools available.
The amateur on other hand, will produce meaningless pictures even with most expensive and advanced camera or some smartphone labeled "Pro".
For usual memorabilia use cases normal people will be fine with a smartphone from 2014.
But if you are professional, who has knowledge and desire to capture a moment with enough quality, you will never leave your house without a camera. And this camera never will be an iPhone or any other smartphone. This use case will be the extreme exception from the rule.
If we are in the digital realm of photography, here are some cameras that will be considered adequate:
* Fujifilm X100V
* Ricoh GR III
* Sony RX100 VII
With this you can produce award-wining work, with iPhone you will produce mainly self-esteem or some form of social validation.
I think you underestimate how people perceive quality. I am by no means a professional, but I did take a lot of pictures with a 2015 smartphone and assure you that using a more recent camera phone makes my pictures look way nicer.
Just because people are not submitting photos to competitions doesn’t mean they can’t see noise, blurriness or plain having completely dark pictures when in a dim room.
The quote, as I understand it is mainly used so people don’t invest into expensive and heavy gear they will ultimately rarely use. (And as a personal anecdote, I wish I have followed it and bought a lighter camera instead of a dslr back when mobile phones still sucked at taking pictures)
This is logical.
With time and mass exposure to better pictures people perceive differences in quality better.
I have a problem with this "pro" label from Apple.
But the biggest problem is that technically educated people are failing into marketing traps and false statements as "cinematic mode".
I assume you don't expect people like me, who are shooting since film era, and perceive photography as a form of art, to follow along.
The Pro label is quite loaded. Afaiu the iPhone is really good for video where it can (and has been) used as a professional tool. Note also that photographers are not the only professionals who can be using a phone as their tool of trade. All that said, I’m really not expecting wedding and wildlife photographers to ditch their DSLRs any time soon.
