iPhone cameras are pretty good and they're very thin. Front or back.
You need a 2.1 MP camera to get 1080p, which the vast majority of laptop webcams don't do. The last time you could get a 2.1 MP main camera in any half decent phone was probably back in 2015. Laptop makers just didn't care, it wasn't a priority for most users before Covid.
Finally higher quality build-in cameras are being included in iMacs. I hope very soon they start making their way into their laptops.