The optical image stabilizer in my mums camera is faulty (randomly jerks vertically). It was today that I learnt that apparently the whole compact digital camera product class has been discontinued across the board because "smartphones".
This makes me very, very angry. 1) no smartphones are not a adequate replacement: An average compact camera still will wipe the floor with even the best smart phone camera – the only replacement for focal length is more focal length.
2) it's a problem for companies, research labs and institutions that work with information sensitive equipment. There are critical areas where you simply can't permit smartphones into, but there's still need for photographic documentation at every stop of a process.
Or 3) think BSL-3 labs: Nothing mechanical that enters such a lab will ever leave intact, and having a couple of "cheap" cameras is a boon there.
those are not exactly cheap, but some still somewhat resemble the form factor of previous generic compact cameras.
like Sonys RX100 line?
You can either get a crappy chinese 'scamera' or get something decent.
I might not like it all that much, but I kinda understand how that's happening and don't think it's the end of the world.
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End of the world? No. But it sucks. I'd have gladly bought my mum a new camera as a post-christmas present at a price point of ~250€, since she a) prefers actual cameras over phone cameras and b) dislikes phones in general.