The M1 chip can't run most software w/o virtualizing x86. I can't run about 90% of my work apps on it. It can't run any games kids play. Even the major vendors that run on Apple now had to rewrite their apps. In what world is this any kind of brilliance or win? Here, I built you a car with TVs for bumpers. It's brilliant! No, you're supposed to only drive it on side streets so there's no traffic behind you. You're driving it wrong. If it rains, don't forget to tape an umbrella on your hood. Oh you can't see? You're supposed to see through the camera, not the window.

There are many ARM CPUs out there, Apple made another one with some minor tweaks. For the home, I can get a 64 core Intel with a terabyte of RAM. For work, I get an 8-core xeon laptop w/ 128GB of ECC RAM, that runs cool, quiet, and just as fast as Apple. Difference is, when I want it to run much, much faster than Apple, I can plug in a 200W power brick, spin up the fans to max, and have my script done when I'm back from lunch.

Iphones aren't market leaders, with 20% market share vs Android. They're overpriced toys to which you don't have full access and can't run your apps of your own choosing on. I'm browsing this site by chromecasting my phone screen to my 65" TV, and I've reprogrammed my buttons to pick up calls when the phone is locked if I press power+volDown. When I go to a customer site, I can plug in my phone into an ESX farm, copy a VMDK onto the host, and start the demo VM. All the guys with a terabyte of storage on their expensive iphones are searching for that USB stick in their bag.

AirPod Max? Who cares. It's just a bluetooth headset the price of a laptop, and sounds like garbage compared to my $100 Sennheiser bluetooth.

Apple products are toys.

Android OS? The latest version of which one I'm running on the 12yo phone I'm using to browse this site on my TV, in firefox, which has no trace of google services and is lightning fast?

The 'classical consumer' you're talking about here is my wife. I get her an iphone because if she had something better, she'd screw it up and waste my time. It's the same reason you get your kid a chevy cavalier instead of an audi S8. That doesn't make the chevy the better car. When she dropped it, because the back was slippery glass (brilliant, as you put it), the $1200 phone had to go to the trash. Because you know, let's make things people hold and drop a lot slippery and fragile. Fanboy comment? Why didn't she goop on a screen protector and a thick rubber case? Same reason I don't wrap my car in bubblewrap. Because not having your device destroyed when you drop it 4ft on wood floors is a basic function of the device, and Apple seems to be the only one struggling with basic functionality. Bad reception? You're holding it wrong. Destroyed by tiny falls? You should have wrapped it in bubblewrap. Keyboard breaks from typing? You shouldn't be typing on macs, that's what siri is for.

Part of the reason they did so well, is because Apple products are shiny and cute, and they're dumbed-down forget-it devices for the lowest common denominator. I wouldn't necessarily call 20% market share well, but because they're all margin, Apple makes a lot.

I'm here saying I'm absolutely willing to pay the iPhone price so I don't get bugged by my wife - my time is worth more. But that doesn't make the iPhone any more brilliant than a car that only goes 65 that you buy for your teen.