>>Of course, by aggressively introducing newer and newer cameras with marginal improvements, companies like Fuji and Sony are finding that they might have created a headache.
Yep, Sony shoot themselves in the foot with the RX100 series. Fantastic cameras, but for some reason they make a point of releasing a new model every single year with marginal improvements, but a much higher price point - so even though we are at Mk 7(?) now, the general recommendation is to just find a Mk 2 or Mk 3 model and save yourself a tonne of money compared to the latest model.
Apparently camera manufacturers care mainly about the chinese market nowadays where it's expected to release new models regularly, so they add small improvements piece by piece instead of releasing completely new models that stay relevant for years.
My problem is the arbitrary differentiation of features between price points. Less expensive cameras seem limited by marketing decisions, not by the actual hardware you are purchasing.
The range from 24mm to 70mm can easily be covered by phone cameras these days with their telephoto lenses - and the sensor sizes are catching up. RX100 vi and vii go up to 200mm which phones don't have yet.
True but with the longer lens, the RX has also gotten a smaller maximum aperture size, f/2.8-4.5 vs f/1.8-2.8 (1). I'd go with a Mark V for that reason despite the shorter focal length.
Looking at that link, the Mark VI/VII has more stops of OIS, which is more important for point and clicks, especially when zoomed/shaky/low-light. The f-number isn't the aperture size, though it is affected by changing aperture. The values you quoted are related to the f-number at both the lowest and highest focal length.
Whether you value OIS is more a matter of personal opinion. I don’t need to shoot at lower shutter speeds generally, especially with these Sony sensors which are pretty great at higher ISO.
Point taken on f-number and aperture not being equivalent, but that’s getting pretty picky ... f-numbers are ratios of focal length to aperture diameter and so effectively do represent aperture size. The point is the smaller f-numbers will give a more shallow depth of field, and at this point, that property is one of the few advantages that a high-end p&s camera has over a nice phone camera (yes, I know some phones are faking shallow DoP in software).
Yep, Sony shoot themselves in the foot with the RX100 series. Fantastic cameras, but for some reason they make a point of releasing a new model every single year with marginal improvements, but a much higher price point - so even though we are at Mk 7(?) now, the general recommendation is to just find a Mk 2 or Mk 3 model and save yourself a tonne of money compared to the latest model.