I am thinking about switching to Linux too. I am no iOS developer, and I find their OS upgrade also goes to the same dead end of prioritizing flashy look above usability. After all, why paying a premium only to be ignored and told by believers that my opinion doesn't matter, at all? Time to vote with foot.
Hyperbole? The had similar backlash when; they switched from 68K processors to PowerPC, licenced Mac OS to third parties, un-licenced Mac OS, Dropped OpenDoc, dropped ADB, dropped 30-pin, dropped the floppy drive, dropped the CD/DVD, dropped the headphone jack. Heck, they even got the same when they switched to Intel! It has been ever thus.
Guess you missed the iPhone's lack of Flash support and copy/paste?
But it is hardly a backlash. The users complained at the time, most of them simply didn't have a iPhone. It is more likely people saying, I won't buy a iPhone because of A/B/C.
While the new MacBook gets complains from its EXISTING user base, who feel that Apple is taking features that are useful to them away and making the product worse.
There is big difference between not giving what your user want and stripping what they are happy with.
As is the case for the Touch Bar.
Apple is used to getting blowback; it is not unusual, and it is sometimes warranted. When it is, later models address the complaints.
I mean, just compare the initial reaction to the very first MacBook Air, to how people feel about that model line now.
It is way too early to know how the new MacBook is going to do. It's way too early to know if the Touch Bar is better UI than function keys.
It's not early, most things in UI design are actually very scientific and can predict in advance how fast you can use something. Basically touch bar is harder if not impossible to use without thinking and looking because it breaks consistency and is also slower to use because targets are smaller, i.e. you have to be more careful not to touch other targets, etc.
Most users can't touch-type the function keys, so having to look isn't much of a departure for the vast majority of their audience.
I cannot say whether Apple have designed and rigorously tested the Touch Bar with UX in mind but they do have a fairly strong reputation for doing such in the past.