>Apple didn't become such a valuable brand by filling their products with third-party shit in exchange for a few bucks.

The same intransigence that serves them today also had them teetering on the brink of bankruptcy for the better part of a decade at one point.

Apple has that commitment to quality, but even aside from that commitment they also just have really good taste and its baked into their product design and company culture. As they say, money can't buy taste and there are no MBA programs that cultivate such sensibilities. It's a hard orientation to copy.

That's true up to a point. But chances are, they will eventually have corporate leadership that is desperate to make a profit, and they'll seriously consider doing the same thing.