> misguided design aesthetic at the expense of practicality in recent years
That is not at all a recent thing.
Example: the first iMac mouse in 1998 was round. A casual observer might not realize how misguided this is until they try to use one for 5 seconds and can't keep it in the correct orientation.
Another example: dreadful charger cables that predictably break. It's been this way for at least a decade now.[2]