>On the other hand there's no other class of camera that really works on vacation/travel and is meaningfully better than a smartphone.

My a6500 is serving me well, though I guess it depends what you mean by "meaningfully better than a smartphone". I do end up with a lot more photos that I like when I go on vacation with a camera than with just a smartphone

Edit: also applies to commuting, but I'm always a bit uneasy about having my camera with me when comutting.