Incremental changes are fine- i mean the phone works well and a lot of changes are in the software anyway.

I don't get why people keep expecting a radical change each year. it's like they're looking for an excuse to update their phones annually.

If I wanted a radically different car i would buy a different model (granted there is pretty much only one iphone type).

Yep nothing to see here, this commentary was maybe notable for the iPhone 4 -> 4s. I went from iPhone 5s to iPhone X and even that jump felt like slightly improving on a good thing. This next jump will be the same again. The incremental improvements do accumulate nicely over 5-7 years between upgrading.

Apple may be more on the pulse for consumers hopes and dreams than NYT when considering what they are incrementally improving. The iPhone 13 camera being the best yet for low-light photography does matter to this non-professional.

Has these incremental changes been reflected in the prices of older version phones versus the new ones?

In what way? The new phones are the same price as the equivalent phones last year, if that is what you are asking about. No price increase. If you mean the price of used phone, iPhones do tend to keep their resale value higher than for most other brands.

At what point does Apple just skip a year?

when they are no longer a public traded company

this sort of negative coverage and waning consumer demand should also trigger Apple to discount the new phone or prior models to hit volume targets for wall street