All Apple did is commodify the industry, and that business model has proven to be successful for them (same as it was with the iPod).
At the end of the day, Apple's contributions to technology aren't chivalric acts of kindness. Their ultimate goal is the same as everyone, running a rent collection business and relying on their services to make consistent income. That's what I think we need to fix. Apple can continue to make phones, we just need to separate their services (the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV, Podcasts, etc.) from their hardware business. If they did that, I might actually buy a Mac again!
A commodity is something by definition that is easily substitutable and you have to compete on price. Apple products are anything but a “commodity”. This is kinda Econ 101.
The iPod and the iPhone both felt like big steps at the time. For both of those categories Apple led by example and basically forced everyone to try to fit their example.
3. longer battery life (unless it contradicts rule 1 or 2)
It's really that simple. Apple fought against this a long time before they gave up and realized the truth. They shipped smaller phones long after Android had moved on to larger screens.
