Last year, a friend of mine "finally got rid of the iPhone," as he put it. This wasn't as big a deal as one might imagine, though. He hadn't been using strictly iPhones for years, and suddenly saw the light or anything. He switches phones, and platforms, pretty often, so when he decided to pick up Google's Pixel XL, I wasn't too surprised. Neither was he, probably.

I was a bit surprised when he said that he was planning on switching back to the iPhone, though, after Apple unveiled the iPhone X. He seems pretty content with the Pixel XL, and, honestly, I figured he'd just upgrade to the Pixel 2 XL when that arrived. I didn't think he'd even consider going back to the iPhone, since he's a Windows PC user and Android works so well with that particular desktop platform (among other reasons).

But, as he put it, he wants "the best possible camera in a smartphone."

Of course, when he told me all that Google hadn't announced its own plans to unveil the next big flagship from its own ranks. So, when they did, my friend decided he'd wait to see how that phone compared to Apple's. Would Google reduce the bezels in a meaningful way with the new big handset? Would it have a camera that surpassed the great shooter in the original Pixel lineup?

He's interested to see what Google comes up with. I'm sure the company will work to make their new smartphone camera(s) top-of-the-line, just as they were last year. And I can certainly understand where he's coming from. There camera in our smartphones is the easiest way to capture memories, and making sure it's the best one available makes sense.

It got me thinking about priorities, though. The iPhone has always had a focus on the camera, or at least tried to, and it's always been a selling point for Apple's smartphone. But of course the industry caught up, and now we've got great smartphone cameras in almost every device out there. Yeah, you can find faults with all of them, but in most cases, and for most people, the camera in their phone is more than good enough for the pictures they want to take.

I can understand where my friend is coming from, and so I wanted to see where all of you are when it comes to this particular subject. When you consider your next smartphone, is the camera the biggest factor? Let me know!