My iPhone’s camera lens is clean again. After alittle reading, it’s seems to be a relatively common problem. I choose to repolishing the lens with toothpaste (gels aren’t abrasive enough).
As you can see below, it worked very well. The Apple store images are taken 2 days apart facing into the light at the same approximate time of day. I didn’t expect much from the iPhone’s camera but it’s now acceptable again.

Interesting… I’m gonna do that tonight. Mine has the same problem and I was about to take it to the apple store but this might work. Thanks!