[NickC25]

>The counterpoint is that we don't need a new gimmick every year, and the companies that do chase new gimmicks (like Samsung and Xiaomi) do so at the expense of overall fit and finish

I think you're sort of making my point for me in a roundabout way. We don't need our consumer computing devices to come out with new iterations every year. That's more down to the process people who listen to Wall Street's wanton cries of "QoQ growth for all of time must happen or else we will riot". They look at Cook and say "we have to copy that". Instead of following the gaming console trend (a new device every 4-5 years that was clearly several technological steps up from the previous console), they become addicted to releasing nearly identical products with a few marginal changes because that gets them nice quarterly numbers.

I'd rather own a device, use it a few years, and then upgrade when the product utility and usecase demands I need to.