Why does every new phone have to be a completely revolutionary game-changer? Can’t you just live your life with the people you care about? Pretty sure all modern phones are fine there.
But isn't that fine? For someone with a 3-4 year old phone, the update might be more worthwhile.
Someone might have another phone (Android) and want to switch. Someone might have started making more money and want a nicer device. Etc.
Dislike of undue marketing hype aside, I don't really see the big deal about year over year upgrades not blowing the previous model away.
Sure, I've got complaints about consumerism, waste, etc, in general, but I feel like those are broader issues that might not be entirely orthogonal, but are still not the same issue.
Obviously not, hence we need tech as a substitute.
With that sorted out, the new iPhone it was a moderate update outside the interests of certain niches (ProRes RAW is hardly a household item).