> It's got to be way easier to hire Angular developers than it is to hire someone who wants to eek out the maximum performance with this lightest-weight approach.
I disagree, at least around here. Frontend developers with react/angular experience are a hot commodity and really hard to hire, yet just about anyone from any tech tech can knock out html and some minimal css.
I'll never say Vue/React/Angular are "light" and I'll fully admit we give up some performance for DX (and UX) but it's a tradeoff I think is worth it (I understand if you don't agree).
In the same vein, I know cross-platform frameworks like Ionic/Quasar are nowhere near as good as native apps. That said the skill set you need (and dedication to actually embracing the platform idiosyncrasies) to make _good_ native apps is not cheap or easy. Cross-platform apps might not fit in as well and might be heavier but they allow fewer people to do more with less. Heck, I have a side-business that relies _heavily_ on apps and it would not exist if I couldn't write them in HTML/JS/CSS as much as that makes some people's stomachs turn.