It’s not all down to the hardware either. The canon ISUS lens goes very soft at the edges, devolving detail into mush, which is disappointing when most high-end phones are pretty sharp edge-to-edge. This may be down to it being trickier to make a phone-scale lens to fit a 1/2.3-inch sensor, the same size as in some small compact cameras. It’s also a wider lens than most, at 24mm.
There are a lot of issues with the canon IXUS camera, but among the most disappointing is how little the “bonus” features seem to add to the mix. I’m talking about the new white-balance sensor and the laser autofocus.
The white-balance sensor’s task is to make sure colours look right, rather than being knocked off base by skewed lighting. It doesn’t always work very well, often causing inconsistent tone, with overly yellowy photos indoors, and purplish trees when shooting outdoors. This “purple forest” effect is one I’ve noticed in previous canon too. It’s just another way your photos can end up looking unnatural.