The "normal" people care more about the aesthetics of the iPhone than the hardware. Although, everyone places the phone in a case. The outer appearance helps a lot when people are buying and the software animations are still arguably better than android. Basically, Apple has somehow made a complete visual experience pleasing throughout the years and while a Nokia or HTC device can mimic functionality. They still don't give the same impression for "normal" people.

The iPod already established the Apple brand as a status symbol, so the iPhone had that leg up.

I think the issue is less that Apple did amazing things, than everyone else was being sloppy as hell with supply chain and quality control. If you look at post war consumer goods, many have great Craftsmanship. But the lure of planned obselessence and cheep outsourcing ruined most product design and execution, and Apple somehow realized there wasn't a risk of not getting the benefits of planned obselessence in making a fancier-crafted project while hardware was still improving.

They still are. PC manufacturers still can’t get touch pads right in 2020. They still ship notebooks that feel janky and don’t have the same solid feel like a MacBook does.

It’s just not in their DNA. That says something

Are we talking about the same company who couldn't get Keyboards and thermals right?

Why I said "fancier-crafted". Apple does tons of crap, especially in software. But it is still better than the even more abysmal competition.

I was talking about a hypothetical scenario where it was Microsoft vs Apple in the mobile space instead of Google vs Apple. Windows worked just as fluid as iOS when they finally got it right, but they were there too late.

> The "normal" people care more about the aesthetics of the iPhone than the hardware.

That's exactly what I said. iPhone 6 to SE 2020 unibody design is from HTC. They made the same kind of phones on the outside.