[matwood]

It depends. I've only bought more gear when I had an exact need. My first camera was a D40, and I used it for years until it simply stopped working. My next camera was a D7100 that added features I knew I wanted after using the D40 for years. I still use this camera. Recently I bought a Z5 because I wanted FF and to move to mirrorless. My lenses followed similar trajectories - want to take bird pictures, need a zoom.

All the time I also mostly had the latest iPhone.

The iPhone takes great pictures with little work in many (most?) situations.

Is it worth buying a non-phone camera in 2022? I think if you really like taking pictures and are bumping into phone limitations, sure. But, if I started today, I would get a flagship phone first and grow from there.