It does feel like there's a small degree of "they can't win" here though. They caught a bit of flack last release cycle for comparing the M3 and M4 chips to the M1s and M2s. Either they can compare to the old ones and people gripe about them hiding the fact that the new releases are incremental, or they compare to the current models and people complain that the releases are incremental.
>Would the new models feel bigger upgrades if Apple only released one every 2-3 year? Sure. Would that be better for the average consumer looking to upgrade from whatever iPhone they have? Not sure. Incremental updates are nice IMO, stop caring about them if your iPhone is less than 3 year old…
I do find it funny that the industry that gave us "rolling release linux" and "dependabot" is full of so many people that hate incremental hardware release cycles.
I'm on a 12 Pro and I only want to upgrade to get more memory and faster processors. My current phone easily pages apps out of memory too often these days and it gets a bit tiring. Also, I already replaced the battery once after 1.5 years and the current battery is already back to about the same health/capacity as the first one was in the same amount of time.
Apple drip feeds features, they have realized that their business relies of making small incremental improvements to the iPhone every year so they hold back features that are bog standard in the more competitive Android world and then make a big fuss when they add it to the iPhone.
We complained about lockin and the uselessness once the older devices falls off the Apple support list, as repairs became a huge PITA (full swing anti-repair design at the time), and rooting the phones didn't help much as the jailbreaking scene was kneecapped compared to android's alternative stores.
Like any evolution, the year over year changes shouldn’t be that drastic
Not saying I need those new features. Only that Apple's incentives are to try to get you to buy the new phone so they are incentivised to gate several software only features to try to get you to upgrade.
It's just a portable computer, and people don't buy new computers every year or two.
It's not just the phone though, you would think by now they would release a smaller watch with round face.
In the iPod era we got a new form factor almost every year. You didn't have to buy it, but you had the choice. Now if I want a round watch I have to buy from google, which doesn't work with my iPhone?