Apple unveiled its new foldable iPhone this week and the predictable reactions followed quickly.
One camp will call Apple an innovation leader, creating another product category.
The other will point out that Samsung released almost the same device just a couple of months ago.
Both miss the point.
Apple did not invent the foldable phone. It did not invent flexible displays, under-display cameras, or the ambition to make a crease disappear. Other companies did much of the technical groundwork.
What Apple keeps doing well is turning existing technology into a product that feels considered in actual use.
How does the interface visually respond as the device opens and closes? Where do controls sit when someone uses the new form factor it one-handed? What remains visible, and what steps out of the way? Does moving between those states feel obvious, or does the user have to think?
That is where a product earns its place in everyday life. That's why tech Youtuber MKBHD describes the new iPhone as even mocking Samsung.
Those are not cosmetic touches added near the end of a project. They come from teams taking real usage situations seriously.
As hardware becomes harder to differentiate, that is where value is created: in decisions people may struggle to name, yet feel every time they use a product – decision just thorough design can create.
For me, Apple remains an interesting example of user-centred design. Not because the company is always first. Because it often knows when technology stops being an end in itself.
And yes, this is something I can appreciate even as someone who deliberately does not use an iPhone.