The author didn't claim that iPhone has it wrong, just that their personal expectation and preference is different.
> Generally, people don't care if the phone uses expensive 5x lens or not. I don't really know who does. :)
That's a strange claim. I know many people who value decent quality zoom, even if they're not otherwise photography geeks.
> we would get both user studies/bugs/feedback, as well as guidance from PMs that responsiveness/latency and "taking any usable photo at all as fast as possible" was more important than the Image Quality
What I don't like about these studies is that it collapses different user groups and different use cases into one average "taking any usable photo at all as fast as possible". The reality is much more colorful and often depends on a situation. When taking a photo of an animal then quick shutter speed is indeed important. But when I'm taking a photo of a static subject, esp. in challenging light conditions, I care more about quality.