The iPhone is overshadowed by the Lumia line of phones in terms of camera...there's just no way around that. But while the camera function is bettered by significant hardware betterments, the chassis, weight and size of the phone is traded off (if we think of it in terms of preference to the iPhone size). Even with larger screen real estate, the iPhone simply won't have the internal space to improve the camera to over come that gap that the Nokia's have put out now.
The Galaxy Note series of phones have an unprecedented battery life that pretty much dwarfs everything else...but it's also nearly the size of a tablet, so the battery they are able to include is also substantial in size. This is just not something we can expect from the iPhone because of it's current design cues...not until better technology comes along, and even then, it'll be a market application, not specific to the iPhone at all...so we can safely assume that the iPhone will never have that kind of market leading battery life...it's just not that kind of device, nor is it designed to be.
I mean we could even get into the more specialty built devices like the HTC's that featured "Beats Audio"...I mean these are DESIGNED with the focus of playing your content aloud for others to hear with better quality audio components...again, the design allowed for such (and the size of the chassis), so it is something you'd never really expect to be in the iPhone as it is currently setup (that and it was kind of like a "sponsor" of sorts with the Beats by Dre audio development...where Apple would simply do that in house if ever)
...and I know that I'm missing about a hundred other things. You see, there are better features on other devices...but here's the kicker, the iPhone is designed to offer as much technology within the most streamlined package, and right now, there is not another phone that competes in that regard. If you look at it like a car (which I so often do because I'm a grease monkey), you're never going to find a Ferrari that is built like a Lincoln Towncar, and you're never going to find a TownCar that is built like a Ferrari...these are different focuses, different fields of success...just because the Ferrari won't accommodate an adult comfortably in the rear seats doesn't mean it's a lesser car, and just because the TownCar won't accelerate to 60mph in a couple of seconds doesn't make it any lesser a car.
I grow so tired of reading "Well this is the better phone..." and "No...this is the better phone...", and then all the crap about which phone is behind which in terms of technology and development and blah blah freakin' blah. They are different...they are developed for different audiences in many ways, and they are filled with features that cater to different brackets of consumers. On the other hand, you have a general assortment of features that cater to every consumer in the market, so because of this, you have to pick and choose which device is best for you.
Bottom line...there is no "best" device. None of them are falling behind or gaining a lead, because none of them are a generally attractive device for every consumer. They implement here, and sacrifice there and in the end, you're left with a multitude of products that cater to a multitude of people and each one of them, in the hands of the person who prefers it, is the best on the market. The iPhone is no different...it does some things better, some things worse and some things the same...it's all a matter of whether it does what you need it to better than other devices, and it does for me.