I actually just got off of a phone call with multiple support agents.
The first one said she wasn't aware of any issue or why anyone would even have reason to complain about the quality of the camera, basically saying it was the hight of Apple engineering. Of course, I asked to be transferred to someone else or to have my ticket escalated and had to schedule a call back for a couple days later.
The second one said she also wasn't aware of any issues, but outright said that even if there should be issues I really shouldn't be concerned about them because no one ACTUALLY uses their MacBook cameras--we've all got iPads and iPhones for that after all. When I asked why she thought people wouldn't be using their MacBook cameras for video calling loved ones or for working during a pandemic she suggested she transfer me to her supervisor.
Leo spent quite a bit of time gathering information. He came back and told me that all the MacBooks have used a 720p camera since 2018 and anyone saying it looked worse than previous years is lying. When I said it looked worse than my 2015 windows 2-in-1 he said that not every camera is created equal and that we could check to see if it was a software issue or a defect in the camera. I tried multiple camera apps--zoom, webex, teams, FaceTime, PhotoBooth, etc, and multiple different lighting schemes. It was until I put a ring light behind my head to give myself a halo that the picture quality actually improved--at the cost of casting my face in shadows and making me look like a corpse. Leo then said that it was definitely due to the quality of the camera and that if I was outside the return period that I would just have to deal with it. When I asked why Apple Support Communities hadn't been updated with a response from Apple he said that it wasn't the job of Tech Support to check this, despite this being the first step I was directed towards when I started trying to figure out what was wrong with my camera. He said if I was unhappy I could call the direct customer complaint number, which I'll post in a separate section because I'm not sure if posting support phone numbers is allowed and I don't want my post to get removed.
The complaint specialist, Jess, said that if I was dissatisfied enough that I should just take my computer to an Apple store and have them try to diagnose the issue, and that just because other people are complaining of an issue doesn't mean it's all true, let alone even for the same reason. When asked he didn't know who moderated this forum either. So it seems like we're out of luck for now.
TLDR; Apple is not aware of why anyone would have an issue with their low quality cameras from 2018 and doesn't expect people to use them for video conferencing, even during a pandemic.
