Also:

- your entry level mirrorless is ~$300 of camera HW vs ~$80 of camera HW on the phone (very very rough estimate of sensor+lens BOM)

- the mirrorless doesn't have any of the physical constraints of being tiny and fitting in a pocket, which directly impact image quality

iPhones cameras are really amazing given the constraints.

Phone cameras don't come close to any of my "real" cameras with my decades of experience shooting and composing ... but phone cameras absolutely obliterate anything I was shooting with a film camera as a beginner back when film was a thing. I have also arguably learned far more about photography with my phone, because of its portability and zero cost experimentation, than I have with ANY "real" camera.

But, perhaps most importantly, along the lines of what others have noted: you know, my phone camera may not be as good, but I have zero complaints about the impromptu photos of my kid growing up that I could never have caught with anything else.

I would add that part of the reason it’s ~$80 of hardware is absolutely economies of scale.

It’s a lot easier to pump out quality parts for less money when you order 10 million of them and potentially helped finance a factory to build them.

i mean, he didn't say that the iphone camera was bad, just that it doesn't stand up to dedicated gear (which it doesn't, but a lot of people will tell you, especially apple's "shot on iphone" marketing campaign, that it will).