It took two years for Apple to acknowledge[1] that #staingate was a real issue.
I do think their hardware is generally high quality, but there are holes, and they are magnified by their positioning as a premium brand and certain high-profile denials of said holes. Which for a brand that lives and dies on its reputation seems less than smart. Adding to the weirdness is that I've alternately received excellent support in cases of hardware issues, and next to none. My guess is that the frontline has a whitelist of issues that they can okay, and have no little latitude beyond that.
[1]: https://www.macrumors.com/2017/02/24/apple-extended-anti-ref...
Only data I could find, but very, very old (only covers to iphone 4(!!)
https://www.squaretrade.com/cell-phone-comparison-study-nov-...
I'd say I _mostly_ disagree.
Many times over the years there have been "major" problems (i.e. antenna-gate and bendgate to name a couple). I've never experienced those issues, and I'm sure neither have many others. The iPhones through the years have been mostly solid for me in terms of hardware without significant design flaws.
Now, I don't try to claim iPhones are perfect, but I think this is an over-reaction.