There's a difference between running algorithms and running them without lag or battery drain. You need to tune the whole pipeline and keep every single step in

There's a difference between running algorithms and running them without lag or battery drain. You need to tune the whole pipeline and keep every single step in sync, without unnecessary data copies or conversions, which is why Google spent the last few years designing its own image sensor processor, among others. It wasn't until recently that phones exposed raw pixels through the Camera2 API, for example. Some manufacturers don't want to go through the motions of exposing camera internals because of the extra work involved, some just want to keep their secret sauce secret.