Tired of bad close / macro photography on iPhones
The iPhone 14 Pro and 15 Pro primary cameras have a minimum focus distance of 7.8". At that distance or closer, the phone automatically switches to the ultrawide lens.[1]
This is a bad design tradeoff. The ultrawide is a significantly worse camera than the primary or the 3x zoom. Close-up photos of pets, friends, food, clothing, etc all look horrible when shot with an iPhone 14 or 15 Pro compared to other phones, including older iPhones.[2]
Given a choice of a 5x ("120mm") zoom or a real close focus primary camera, I'd take the close focus every time.
[1] The automatic switch can be disabled by tapping the flower icon. This doesn't improve the quality of close images taken by the main sensor, even when they're technically past the minimum focus distance.
[2] The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra's primary camera manages high quality images while still keeping good close focus abilities.