Interesting article. I wonder if the multiple, older, models are just a way to clear excess inventory or if Apple really believes this allows them to complete on cost as well. For instance the price difference is still excessive when comparing the 5C against mid-range Android phones at which point if you are buying Apple you may as well go for the top-range iPhone anyway.
The article says there's only 4 iPhones, but shows a variety of MacBook configurations and says there's 10 different models. There's really only 5 (2 Airs, 2 Retina, 1 non-Retina). To count storage and memory differences as new models, you'd have to do the same for the iPhone (3 storage options per, to say nothing about different colors)
It'd be really interesting to have a peek into Apple's supply chain to see how many of these "outdated" models are still being produced, and how many of the parts are newly produced vs. old stock (e.g. if the 2011-era CPUs being used were made in 2011 or 2014).
I completely agree with your points. In my opinion it was okay to sell the second most recent version of their products as a cheaper option and a way to clear stocks, but now they are selling products multiple generations ago which doesn't make sense to me.
If you think that is bad, try to understand the product lineup of Dell, Lenovo, or Samsung.