As a disclaimer: I haven't bought a camera (or looked at new models) since 2018 > Mirrorless cameras with phase detection have actually existed for a long time

As a disclaimer: I haven't bought a camera (or looked at new models) since 2018 > Mirrorless cameras with phase detection have actually existed for a long time - actually since 2010 I guess that depends on your timescale. The first SLR camera was 62 years ago, with the Nikon F (1959-1973, 14 years span). The first [SLR] camera with phase detection autofocus, the Canon EOS 650 (incidentally my first SLR [1]) was released in 34 years ago, in 1987. It wasn't until 2002 (Canon EOS-1Ds, 19 years ago) that there was a DSLR that could capture images on par with film. Even if Canon deliberately suppressed mirrorless PDAF (which I don't dispute), phase detection autofocus has been around much longer than digital cameras, and at least until recently DSLRs have had better autofocus performance than mirrorless. To be clear, I'm not cargo culting DSLRs here. My point is that beyond the change from film to CMOS sensor, DSLRs are not significantly different from the film cameras they replaced. [1] I mentioned to a coworker that I was thinking picking up photography; the next day she gave me a bunch of film photography gear that had been sitting in her attic for the past 20+ years. Unfortunately, the EOS 650 ended up getting stolen.