> When Samsung got caught doing this, there was a pretty easy test for this to prove they were doing it: people would take a photo of a white circle on a monitor from far away in a dark room, and they noticed that the phone replaced the entirely white circle with a png of the moon.

Long story short, I have used a Nikon Coolpix for many years. A P510 (24-1000mm effective focal length) and upgraded to a P1000 (24-3000) when I thought the old one was flaking (it recovered) So, zooming to 1500mm is a "snap". While it's fun to try things that are way outside the box, like eating spaghetti with a spoon, there really is a suitability argument. And phone cameras are really great with wide angle shots. I have some macro iphone photos that have depth of field that is impossible with the fixed f/1.8 lens, so it MUST have done focus-stacking. ALL phone photos are "computational photography" So are deluxe camera jpegs, when not RAW files.

Apple is very secretive about that computation.

Here is a 1500mm moon photo from the other day. I think it was hand-held. Not bragging. Others do a lot better and have expensive editing software. I live on a ridge and the surrounding ravines mess up the air with thermals. Just to say, the camera suits the job very well. The old coolpix seems tiny now, and I toss it in the car whenever I leave the house, because "you never know"

https://i.ibb.co/TBVz1w4Z/moon1500.jpg (imgbb.com)

> I can foresee a future where ads replace common objects in photos. Corporate sponsored post processing AI enhances photo and replaces Pepsi with Coke.