Redpill me on why "street photogs" shoot with film compacts or $1000+ Leicas, Contax, rangefinder film camera etc. when a smartphone can almost produce same photo quality and it is way more discreet than pointing a camera in front of a subject's face on the street? Can they also focus faster using a rangefinder than autofocus?

I understand those who shoot with a TLR because medium format film quality is high and you can shoot from hip which is discreet. It kind of looks cool as well.

A good argument is probably because black and white film looks better than digital but I don't shoot bnw film so I can't confirm this.