Rather than the Apple watch being a Vogue-celebrated product for the 1%, it’s an attractive and high quality product for many people. I see it on the wrists fashion icons and on the wrists of people working at my local grocery store. Billionaires and ordinary people can have basically the same phone, watch, and AirPods. That is the true genius of Cook, reviving the “computer for the rest of us”.
I do think Apple’s design has become a little stale, but if there has to be a choice of once vs the other they are currently picking the right one. Let’s not forget that the vaunted focus on design has given us a mouse with the charger on the bottom as well as innumerable other botches over the years. I am glad Apple was willing to push the envelope, but some of that stubbornness has worked against them.