It's never about the camera.

One of the important concepts to understand with photography is that the gear will never significantly improve your pictures. Yes it might facilitate you getting the look you want but a compelling image can be achieved with anything and comes from one's vision. I mean, people make full photo books with pictures taken with an iPhone. Chase Jarvis' book The Best Camera Is The One That's With You is a perfect example.
Now here's another extreme, how about making a camera out of cardboard? Well, that's actually quite feasible, a medium format pinhole camera at that! It might not have the convenience of an iPhone, it doesn't fit in your pocket but it's pretty darn cheap, and original.
Here's a Kickstarter project for such a camera: