That's because everybody wants to show off.

And Instagram (or any other "fake universe" which pushes video-quality as a minimal requirement) algos, favor content made with a newer/better/bigger (thus more expensive) phone.

How come there's close-to-0 improvements about audio quality (both recording and listening) with respect to visual technologies?

Make the audio counterpart of Instagram/Tiktok and I'll chime in right away.

But pop-people (and markets) are mostly interested in visuals at the moment.

And for audio-sensitive people like me, it's almost a blessing.