GoKawiilTo help decide if buying a digital camera is worth it, ask yourself if you have a specific need for it. A smartphone can handle most situations as a jack of all trades, but the extensive catalog of digital camera options can provide a better choice for certain scenarios. If you want high-resolution photos that can handle low-light or ultra-bright scenes, most modern mirrorless cameras, like Sony's A7R VI, will capture all that detail whether you're shooting a high-paced event or sweeping landscapes. If you want something more compact with a fixed lens, Sony's RX10 V can squeeze everyone into a group shot or capture far away wildlife thanks to its 24-600mm optical zoom lens. There are even action cameras, like GoPro's Mission 1 Pro, meant to keep up with those doing extreme sports, or cameras that have articulating displays and auto-framing features, like Sony's ZV-E1, to make vlogging easier.
One of the major advantages of a digital camera when compared to smartphones is sensor size. With a much larger sensor, you're able to capture photos with far more detail, which affords more leeway for a tighter crop. Along those same lines, digital cameras offer more control when it comes to getting a specific look for your photo. Smartphones tend to do a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to editing a photo to look decent, but digital cameras give you the freedom to edit a photo however you want.
It's worth noting that some modern smartphones have more advanced features like adjusting aperture through the iPhone's Portrait Mode and there are even apps like Halide that offer more control. However, a digital camera offers many more options to control the look you want, like keeping things intentionally dark to make the most of negative space or introducing motion blur with tracking shots. Of course, that all means you get what you put in when it comes to using digital cameras.