I think you misunderstand me... I'm not making a judgement about the art produced with any device. The art of photography is only tangentially related to camera gear quality. I'm saying that comparing smartphone camera quality at the high end is an exercise in futility since these cameras are designed to be pretty good general purpose point and shoots, and they both clearly accomplish that.
Ultimately, smartphone cameras have very small sensors, so their "technical" performance (the pixel peeping I mentioned) is inherently inferior to that of larger format cameras.
And a semi truck carries more cargo than a Camry. So what? It may be true that typical flagship phones have comparable photo quality. That's a valid point. But throwing in the old "but an SLR is better than any phone" trope has nothing to do with typical flagship phones having comparable cameras. Since a typical phone customer has no interest in carrying around a dedicated camera with a huge sensor, it makes no difference how performant the large camera is, just like a Camry buyer does not care that a used U-Haul truck would have so much more cargo capacity.
"Both of these phones have great cameras, but they don't hold a candle to the performance of even crop sensor entry level DSLRs and mirrorless bodies. "
That part is definitely not false... My Sony RX100 II blows these cameras out of the water and its a pocket camera.
Ultimately, smartphone cameras have very small sensors, so their "technical" performance (the pixel peeping I mentioned) is inherently inferior to that of larger format cameras.