I think you're seriously underestimating the impact of actually-useful and reliable AI features at your fingertips. This is what everyone imagined computers would be, since I don't know... the 80s?
That means Apple has a much simpler problem: they don’t need to convince you that AI as a concept is worth hundreds of dollars, they just need to convince you that the hundreds of dollars you were already going to spend on a smartphone should go to them instead of Samsung or Xiaomi.
Anecdotally I tried to get my dad to a iPhone 14 and shift from Android, he basically kept using his Android and never switched,so my mom is using that device now(along with an Android) not too happily just cause no else one is using it and will switch back to Android fully next upgrade. There are plenty of people who simply prefer the Android interface or by now so used to it that don't want to change and vice-versa. I myself use and need both and cannot imagine exclusively committing to one ecosystem.
Even reminders is pretty bad:
"Hey Siri, add celery to the shopping list" "Okay John, I've added celery to the shopping list list (sic)."
Shopping list: - Celery
"Hey Siri, remove celery from the shopping list" "Okay John, I've added celery to the shopping list list."
Shopping list: - Celery - Celery
This is not meeting expectations.
Although somewhere I'm sure we can find an '80s pop-culture vehicle that predicts those shortcomings as well.