I'd go as far to say that traditional camera makers like Canon/Nikon are going to be bust if they do not change their strategies.

LMAO!

i just love people's reaction, maybe they misread the word "I think" or "most" in that post.

not sure about Nikon but Canon can still sell calculators.

I'd go as far to say that traditional camera makers like Canon/Nikon are going to be bust if they do not change their strategies.

so if someone think of, without camera, Nikon, Canon... will not survive, that's not true 

Nikon, Olympus are giants in optical field, they are main supplier for low power scope and high power scopes in industrial field. ohh... not to mention, Leica also have same product (i nvr see Canon scope b4, so not sure canon have similar products or not)

Canon, Nikon, Ricoh produce photocopy machine as well (my company using Ricoh photocopier)

oh.. ya, Nikon also produce x-ray machine 

since they in to imaging/optical field, they not going to produce only camera, they may involve in others field related to optical

so if someone think of, without camera, Nikon, Canon... will not survive, that's not true 
be in mind their top range of line up do not target to hobbyist like us, they targeting to professional photographers, that still need the big gun for extreme condition, those camera size are big  due to bigger electrical circuit board in camera, to accommodate more components/chips, that not as simple as  'SLR quality'

funny to read all these comment, Smart phone never can replace mine 5d Mark III lolz. I was wonder how do i capture a milky way with a smart phone hahaha

Wow! that is something......

anyway, dear all sifus - let's get back to my original question:

"The all important question is: with the recent progress in smart phones, can it replace a mid-range camera mentioned above?"

I never have any question about the power of dSLRs, and i'd agree that anyone who wants to produce first class photos should get the best gear possible - this is beyond argument.

so, back to my question: can a smartphone replace a mid-ranged camera? Especially in low light condition which is always the weakest point of phone cams. I've narrowed down to cameras like Canon S100, Lumix LX-5, and Lumix GF-2.

so from now on, please no more debating on dSLRs. 

funny to read all these comment, Smart phone never can replace mine 5d Mark III lolz. I was wonder how do i capture a milky way with a smart phone hahaha

If you're not enthusiast and don't really bother the quality then smart phone will be a great choice.

Or get a point and shoot camera and around rm1k is good enough too

I think I’m on the same boat with TS, it will be pretty shocking if TS entered the world of real camera and found out it is so far behind the phone cam. Those common features in phone cam are not common in digital camera and it'll cost arm and leg if camera has them. Case-in-point:
1. Megapixels - Phonecam already has 12MP cam since 2009, while that time most DSLRs were just 6MP
2. 1080p - Full HD phone cam are so common, 5D Mark II which priced almost like 3 new born babies in china black market was the 1st DSLR to have this feature.
3. Display - when phone cam evolved up to retina display, most camera still stuck with low res with difficulty to see in sunlight.
4. Touch screen - not just phonecam already has touch to focus, today most cameras don’t even have touchscreen,
5. Video light LED is also common feature in cam phone, it almost non existence in real camera.
6. Image stabilization is not a buying factor in cam phone, but it is essential when buying a camera coz it is a rare feature.
7. GPS – Geolocation data on the Exif information – Phone cam people don’t even talk about this already coz it’s native.
8. Connectivity – Wireless connectivity like wifi and 3G is not even a handful number that we can call significant in real cam world.
9. Battery – while phone cam can just charge it on any usb ports, cameraman need to bring car battery around connected to some adapter and fake battery coupler.
10. Size – most photographers are still have the thinking that bigger is better when the evolution of technology proves otherwise. Until today most of them still think that it’s important to have mirror to reflect the image to another sensor to display on another smaller LCD display they call a viewfinder and this what DSLR is all about.

I can go on and on but lets get thing straight here when people like me looking for a camera to buy we expect most common features in our phone cam are already there and something can give more and not less. Image quality and effects are also arguable since most can be achieved in post processing.