Question for someone more knowledgeable: as the iPhone’s periscope lense tech improves will this effectively make the low end of professional mirrorless/dslr cameras obsolete?
I've actually been more and more dissatisfied with the results from iPhones over the years; their sensors have had the same limitations with dynamic range and low-light ability for years but try to make up for it with fancy signal processing. It (mostly) works well when you look at these images on a small 6 inch screen, but blow them up to even a moderate sized computer monitor and they look pretty abysmal compared to even a basic entry-level mirrorless camera or DSLR.
The latter two have much less intrusive noise reduction and produce a far better looking honest, unprocessed image than any phone camera could. Shooting in RAW on an iPhone is proof of this; the raw sensor output is much, much noisier than a low-end DSLR in anything but peak noon outdoor lighting conditions.
That's not getting into many of the other benefits of dedicated cameras, like much more granular control over colors, WB, exposure, aperture, shutter speed, filters, true control over depth of field, more lens choices, etc, that are aided by the superior ergonomics. Cell phones have completely replaced point-and-shoots but large-sensor cameras and film cameras still blow the pants off of even the most sophisticated mobile cameras in terms of detail and versatility. The question is whether you have a use-case which calls for the greater expense and size of a camera like that.
I don't think they'll likely ever replace professional gear, since any tech in phones can easily be applied to cameras on a larger scale... it just eats into the market more and more until professional is the only market left.
If it’s for the sake of just taking good photos as a memory? Yes. There’s been a huge reduction in people buying point and shoots , or even low end cameras for vacations or lower end special events.
If it’s for the sake of more important special events or control, then no. They’re aimed at very different market segments. When it comes to mirrorless (DSLR is almost dead) there’s very little capability difference between low and high end today. The market is just: “what can you afford and what niceties do you want”. But the people who will buy one will likely want immediate physical control that a phone cannot offer.
So imho it’s less about the low end of the camera products and more about the low end of the customer needs.