I think the charitable interpretation of that part of the author's statement is "Users only need a camera that is decent enough, since there are more important things. Google focuses too much on the camera".
Even Xiaomi feels a bit borderline, they have very affordable and mass targeted phones, but anyone not caring that much would go no wrong with a Samsung, probably discounted at the same price as the equivalent Xiaomi phone.
The main beef against the Pixel phones seems to be that friend's story about the back getting hot sometimes, which is valid, but anecdotal to say the least.
It doesn't happen consistently and it seems to only happen when I'm actually driving with the navigation turned on. It's incredibly frustrating when it happens. I've tried different phone placements, even placing it directly in front of an AC vent but it still occasionally happens.
I usually don't charge it while driving but it has happened twice while charging as well.