I miss the days of old, when phone lifecycles were similar to video game consoles - a new model was released every 3-4 years, with a massive leap in technological power. Even if you factor in Moore's law, there's little reason to release a new slew of phones every year, especially since the differences under the hood seem to be less and less significant.
Rather than giving everyone a significant reason to switch every few years, the industry seems to think that releasing new models with incremental differences every 9-14 months is the best way forward. It's dumb IMO.
What's also dumb is Apple switching form factors every few years, going from curved edges to hard edges and back again, yet calling each switch "innovative" or whatever bullshit their marketing team comes up with.