Thinness does have some value for phones. For laptops, there's certainly a market for ultra portable machines but Apple seems to have forgotten that some of us use our computers for work and are willing to trade off thinness for practical usability.

> they removed 'user replaceable' for thinness

Also better water resistance.

...which happened just around the time batteries became good enough for both daily use, as well as a phone’s typical lifespan.

10 years or so ago, a three-year old cell phone battery would still be good for maybe three or four hours per charge. Today, I’m using a 5-year old iPhone that still gets through a typical day on a single charge.

There are also battery cases, or external battery banks, whose introduction has solved most people’s battery-related questions, except “why are people still complaining about non-removable batteries?”