It's true that laptop computers have not changed as much over the years. This in large part because Intel CPU's and architecture have not changed as much, while iPhone CPU's have improved by leaps and bounds.

I wonder how much this might change when Apple Silicon comes to the Mac.

It feels like smartphones are stabilizing as well. I don't see myself needing to replace my iPhone 8 for a while, even though there have been three more generations afterwards. An iPhone 5 felt much more outdated at the time of the 6s/SE.

Agreed - since 2017 the main improvements have been to the cameras, plus some improvements to efficiency, and (depending on your carrier) 5G.

I find 5G (coverage on mid-band, not the hyped speed on ultra-wideband) to be the most compelling reason to upgrade my phone this year.

Having owned a 5S, 6 plus, and now XR, the all screen design is a much bigger upgrade than iPhone 5 vs. 6S in my opinion.

> I think it's more likely that Apple's new frameworks don't require any fancy hardware features

Mojave and higher isn’t “supported” on the cheese grater Mac Pro’s despite it running more than fine, including with FileVault 2 enabled on the boot volume (which an Apple exec tried to claim was technically not possible).

> Mojave and higher isn’t “supported” on the cheese grater Mac Pro

The 2010 and 2012 Mac Pros officially support Mojave with a compatible video card:

Install macOS 10.14 Mojave on Mac Pro (Mid 2010) and Mac Pro (Mid 2012) https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208898

Yeah, my sentence structure leaves a bit to be desired. The key there is including FileVault being enabled.