@guihombre:
1) if you ever saw actual optical 3x zoom in action, then you know it makes really, really small effect in situations when you would like to have zoom (huge pro optics only does the trick).
And, with cheapo optics which used for cell phones there is no such thing as actual optical (not nominal) resolution than 5 MP. That is because cheapo supersmall optics is not that presice to focus light exactly along the straight perpendicular line of sensor matrix. The light always gets focused a little bit before or a little bit after the very line of sensor matrix, so the image is out of focus on pixel level. That is why 8-14MP photos on smartphones look blurry when you see them at 100% pixel-to-pixel viewing mode.
So 8, 10, 12, 14 MP cell cameras is marketing feature, rather than possibility to shoot photos with that quality as **optical** resolution.
2) Additionally, Apple uses matrix with backside pixel sensors, which is not available for 8-10-12-14MP cellphone camera at all.
3) Also, Apple uses physically bigger sensor. This, along with #2 point, allows better low light photos.
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