A bit strange topic, but I lead a Kiev group of photography and because of sad state of economics in my hometown photographers who work with a phone camera became more and more popular, and they even came. up with a name for it - mobilography. Here's my point of view:
- as a viewer I don't care so much what the picture was produced with as long as the picture is good. Unexpected angles, real moments, smart solution and great pallet can be produced with mobile camera and I will look and enjoy them all the same.
- for young photographer I would recommend mobilography as a way to practice creative thinking (find 15 unexpected ways to photograph fried egg) as well as observation skills (find objects that look like letters).
- for myself I use mobile camera the same way as a writer would use his/her little notebook - for ideas and unexpected findings, but not to write the whole novel in it so to say
- technically I will pick real camera over mobile one because it gives me full control. For example as it gets dark, I want to pick between grain and depth of field based on the mood I aim for, if the phone does that for me, it always does it in standard way
- camera also can shoot raw, but mobile AI does great job with HDR which may look good enough and without a long post-prod
- I hate how wide the angle is for phone lenses, but they say there will be a few build in options for a lens very soon
- Finally, I can't imagine clients will be paying for mobile shoots anytime soon, so if you are serious about professional photography, you'll need a camera anyway, and you'll need to learn all about it. I preferred to pay forward and learn everything at the beginning, but if you can't afford a camera and you have creative spirit and hungry eye - go for it with whatever you can - GoPro, drone, mobile phone, or even old-fashioned sketchbook - they are all great creative outlets!