Reviews such as the one on The Verge regarding the Pixel 2XL camera being better than the iPhone XS camera always make me think a bit. "The Pixel 2… makes all the processing decisions for you …come with plenty of contrast, sharpness, and dynamic punch" are cited as reasons the iPhone XS camera is somehow lacking. Perhaps it's my time with a photography hobby but those same points sound like critical flaws to me. And those sample images he posted as proof of the Pixel 2XL being superior all looked over-sharpened and with what I'd call blown highlights and undetailed shadows. Maybe I've spent too many years working with raw images, but the "flat" look he's complaining about looks to me to be a far better starting point.
All that aside, I don't doubt he's correct that the default camera app on the Pixel 2XL does produce finished pictures most people will find more aesthetically pleasing. Perhaps with enough detail that a pass through an Instagram filter or two doesn't result in unusable garbage. Which is the part where it gets me thinking. What do people actually think of when they talk about a "camera". What is the output expected from such a thing? And to the extent comparisons can be made between 'cameras', what would count as "better"?
My medium format TLR certainly produces pictures with far more detail than my DSLR ever did (or my mirrorless does). But focusing with the ground glass takes a long time and running the enlarger isn't exactly something I can do while riding the bus (though I do miss the smell of fixer). If detail is all that mattered the TLR is clearly a 'better' camera, so why haven't I used it in years? My mirrorless takes great photos no current phone camera can match along any measurable metric. So why are most of my daily pictures taken with my phone?
And yet, though clearly convenience wins and "the best camera is the one you have on you", I still like to have most of the post-processing decisions done by me. I don't like it when a picture comes out of the camera system looking overly punchy. I don't want a camera system that will over-saturate the colours without any input from me. Sure I may wind up cranking the saturation and contrast anyway, but I want those steps to be discrete active decisions on my part. I suspect most people would agree with the author at The Verge and be perfectly happy to let the camera do all that for them.