In terms of raw sensor performance, certainly. The new camera moves the software stack forward in a way that Nokia didn't though - extremely high frame rate to "catch" the best moment, programmatic selection of said moments, merging of exposure information across multiple consecutive frames, etc.
As a photo enthusiast that part of the presentation was a lot more exciting than the (rather marginal) improvements to lens and sensor.
You don't need to mess around with these software hacks when the hardware is as good as in the Lumia 1020. Besides these software features are already done in the HTC One (lookup 'Zoe'). Apple's playing catchup here.
Lumia 1020 has very slow shot-to-shot and start times. On iPhone 5 I can start the camera app and shoot 9 images in 10 seconds. Just did it. On 1020 you might get 3 shots of in the same time. But the key is the time to first shot. On iPhone 5, from off to first shot is roughly 2.5 seconds, and just .5 of a second or so for the second. 1020 takes 4-5 seconds for first shot, another 2-3 seconds for the second (based on my experiments in the store).
Since most people use their cameras to shoot pictures of cute cats or children, and then upload them to FB, I think the vast majority of people would prefer the fast and very good quality of the iPhone over the slow but excellent quality of 1020.
Best is too vague. My issue with it is that it's a huge bulge on the back of the phone, so in my mind it can't be the "best mobile phone camera ever created".
