If this were Google where PMs ran feature development willy-nilly, then I bet this would've been true. Luckily, Apple's design team still has enough pull; so the MBAs haven't taken over everything.
It’s really funny you think the MBAs have less sway at Apple than Google. Apple is a penny-pinching company literally run by a supply chain exec with a Duke MBA. Google is a freewheeling engineer-led culture with zero interest in cost control.
The design team at Apple is still super influential. I should’ve probably clarified in my previous post: I work at Apple and over the years made good friends with writers on the team. We worked very closely in some Siri teams I was on.
Anyways, we still catch up once in a while and from what I gather the design team is truly organized to value the art and outcomes far far more than chasing promotions and titles. As an engineer, I can assure you I feel a very different vibe in the eng org; chasing after promotions is still a part the career “mindset”. Even amongst all my eng friends here. In all fairness though, that’s how all big tech eng teams in the Bay Area or Seattle are organized. Engineers are incentivized to get promoted to dissuade “rest and vest”.
Anyways, my larger point is: yes, design team at apple is def the most powerful and has final say on features. Of course, the MBAs run everything else from financial analysis that determine designers’ raises to operations in the supply chain. Someone’s gotta turn the magic into reality, after all ;)
Can it be both? The engineers create a new chat app every year, then the MBAs take it over next year and "optimize" it into the ground and all the engineers flee, but that's ok because the cycle will repeat shortly.