The unspoken thing about gifting a camera phone person is that their obsession is a social contract everyone around them has already signed. Har family trip mein, unke phone ki wajah se 200 photos aa jaate hain group chat mein, unsolicited, at 11pm. Nobody asked, everyone saved them silently. So when you give something related to this, the subtext is: I see you, I acknowledge this is real, not just a phase. That signal matters more than the object.
For the actual gift, think about what slows them down mid-shoot. Clip-on lens kits covering wide-angle and macro are underrated, because most camera obsessives have already hit the wall of what their default lens can do and they know it. A flexible tripod solves the jugaad of leaning the phone against whatever is nearby, a chai cup, a stranger's chair, a tilted book. If the budget is tighter, a Bluetooth shutter remote earns its keep. Nothing dramatic, just removes the 10-second timer scramble that costs them the frame they actually wanted.
The most common mistake is gifting anything that implies put the phone down. A dedicated camera seems like an obvious upgrade. It will collect dust. They chose phone photography because it lives in their pocket, always instant, no bag needed. Gifting a compact camera tells them you missed the point entirely. Photo book subscriptions are the other trap. Sounds thoughtful. They do not care about prints. The scroll, the edit, the post, that is the entire point.