Seems like revisionism to me? Before the iPhone/smartphones in general, battery life on a mobile phone of a week was not uncommon. One of the first criticisms of the iPhone was that you had to charge it every night. I'm not sure I'd say that they had some unique insight into the importance of battery life.

Not revisionism. Prior to the launch of the iPhone, "smartphones weren't very smart" to quote Steve Jobs.

Anyway, you are comparing the battery life of touch-based smartphones with its non-touch predecessor which isn't a fair comparison. Besides, mobile phones that could last for a week from a single charge are definitely not considered smartphones, those are feature phones.

Batteries are part of Tesla's core differentiation as well. Even if one might argue they make too much in house, taking batteries on seems like a reasonable move to me.

I think Blackberry cared a lot more, but it didn't work out well for them.