As long as it's smaller than a smartphone plus an RX100 taped together I consider it a net win.

You’re not wrong at all. My 12 Pro was much better, but still a bit annoying.

But optics can’t beat physics. Better cameras need more space for lenses and sensors. They could make the whole phone thicker, but haven’t done that yet.

The trajectory seems unsustainable. We’ll see what happens I guess.

yeah not a fan, my iphone12 mini is bad enough. I get that taking a photo and posting it to instagram is 95% of the use case for the iphone but i still don't like the way the camera lenses protrude.

Yes, it is a minor annoyance and actually seems to be counter to Apple's historical product design

When you say annoying, what do you mean specifically?