AMD's previous design was its own thing. Arm's and Apple's designs are their own things. There's still flexibility in how to build a core. Skylake is clearly not even the optimal target; Apple's approach easily outclasses it, for instance. And yet AMD did none of that; they build a core that is practically just Skylake, with no real innovation I can spot anywhere.

There's nothing wrong with this as a strategy. AMD's own designs were performing pretty badly and Skylake was a straightforward, reliable target that would lead them back to competitiveness. Their uncore is plenty innovative, given their willingness to compete on scale.

But a rose is a rose is a rose. Zen 2 is arguably more similar to Skylake than Ice Lake is to Skylake.