Not necessarily. No longer can a phone push out a high number just to capture the headlines, they have to back it up with great photos - every single review of a high-end smartphone will spend a good section to the quality of the camera.
Having high megapixels can allow you to combine multiple pixels into a larger pixel element for a better quality image, it can be used to reduced noise, better low light exposure, even single-shot HDR (real HDR, not HDR -effect), or you can have true pixel digital zoom (albeit lower quality, lower res).
Smartphones have all but wiped out the need for compact cameras (although there are some use cases for them, and you get a better optical zoom for less money). Prosumer DSLR and similar cameras become a lot more about the lenses than purely the sensor as they used to be.
However smartphones, by fa,r have the most innovation and quality from such a tiny sensor and small lens, that would've been thought impossible a few years back. No-one could have predicted the quality of photos that is possible today on a smartphone as the expected limitations keep being surpassed. Even the results that they can get from clever software and OIS is really impressive. I have my two DSLRs at home that I am using less and less as I find that 95% of the time the camera on my smartphone produces results that are totally acceptable for my use cases.
In reality, a non-photography enthusiast can take some very good pictures on a smartphone, that they would never be able to take on a DSLR with similar minimal training.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
