Your making valet points but the big hook gadget this year is the ECG on the series 4 watch and they know that many fanboys who skipped the iPhone X will finally buy into the large selection offered this year. This new line up will cement the new generation of the iPhone
Fanboys are called fanboys for a reason. Most people aren't fanboys. They recognize that choices do exist, and do seem to notice the disparities that exist between this choices.
I don't think what fanboys do is really relevant, as they exist with all manufacturers, and will buy whatever those manufacturers offer to them; regardless of the value (or lack thereof) inherent in those products - particularly when upgrading Year-over-Year.
This new lineup will cement the new generation of iPhone as much as the iPhone 4 and iPhone 6 did.
It looks cute for the first couple of months, and then it becomes about as ordinary as a $200 Android phone.
I'm certainly not buying into them. For $1,099 (normal Xs not an option due to the weak battery life), we're getting into the territory where you have to appeal to a lot more than my opinions or slight bias for a certain platform or product line. I need some good objective value. The phone has to sell itself. Marketing ceases to be effective when the prices are getting to such extreme level.
And starting off with a 64GB SKU is insulting at these price ranges.
The Note 9 has a Variable Aperture Camera, S Pen with BT Remote, Double the Storage at lower prices. Expandable Storage. 3.5mm Headphone Jack. A Fast Charing Brick included, MST, Standard USB-C connection... No Notch, so a REAL 6.4" screen (as the diagonal measurements go through space next to the notch, which causes a very misleading measurement).
I've owned iPhone Plus since the 6, and the 5S before it, and have upgraded every year... So this is not because I just don't like the iPhone... I have just run out of excuses to give myself for paying increasing prices for decreasing value in the face of that. What exactly does the iPhone Xs do to justify the industry high pricing other than being Apple Branded and Looking like an X?
Same for the Xr, which is laughable given it costs about as much as a Galaxy S9...
If you think EKG on an Apple Watch is the
big hook item this year, then I'm simply not sure how to respond to that... Interesting take on things... Maybe because people at the event actually clapped unsolicitedly at it?
If I feel a heart palpitation, I'm going straight to the hospital. I am not going to base my decision on an EKG from a device as unreliable as a watch. The people who actually need EKGs have no business using a watch for it. It can be a life or death situation. Go to the hospital. Watch can GFIT.