Apple has always been about incremental improvements. Once every several years, it makes something that’s very different and leagues ahead. It has never had mind blowing product releases in consecutive years.
In the initial years of the iPhone and Apple Watch, the hardware wasn’t really very powerful (but Apple’s vertical integration and software made the most of it). Talking more about iPhone, ever since the A4 chip was released, the Apple Silicon chips have grown leaps and bounds over the years. Nowadays the performance improvements in each iteration of iPhones don’t matter much for the kind of usage most people have.
One area that does show improvements every year is the cameras on iPhone, especially on the high end models. The iPhone 13 brought a dramatic improvement in low light photography compared to all other generations before it (and the competition). The difference is literally day and night. That’s something you may have missed noticing if you’ve followed or used the devices over the last 6-7 years.
It may probably be the case that the features are or have been good enough for you. It’s been that way for a lot more people, which is a big reason why the upgrade cycle for iPhones has elongated over time from once a year to once every two years and now around once every three or four years. It’s also why Apple has the iPhone upgrade program and other incentives (in the U.S. and some other countries) to get people to buy new iPhones every year. This saturation and extended upgrade cycles are why Apple has been growing its services divisions (and revenues) in the last several years.
In the initial years of the iPhone and Apple Watch, the hardware wasn’t really very powerful (but Apple’s vertical integration and software made the most of it). Talking more about iPhone, ever since the A4 chip was released, the Apple Silicon chips have grown leaps and bounds over the years. Nowadays the performance improvements in each iteration of iPhones don’t matter much for the kind of usage most people have.
One area that does show improvements every year is the cameras on iPhone, especially on the high end models. The iPhone 13 brought a dramatic improvement in low light photography compared to all other generations before it (and the competition). The difference is literally day and night. That’s something you may have missed noticing if you’ve followed or used the devices over the last 6-7 years.
It may probably be the case that the features are or have been good enough for you. It’s been that way for a lot more people, which is a big reason why the upgrade cycle for iPhones has elongated over time from once a year to once every two years and now around once every three or four years. It’s also why Apple has the iPhone upgrade program and other incentives (in the U.S. and some other countries) to get people to buy new iPhones every year. This saturation and extended upgrade cycles are why Apple has been growing its services divisions (and revenues) in the last several years.