> Expecting major improvements and new features every year is odd to me.

I think that has to do with Apple's own presentation/marketing. They make the announcement into a big thing.

Do people expect Apple to proclaim “our new version has incremental upgrades, only buy if your phone is a couple years out of date”?

Product launches are always a lot of theatrics regardless of the company.

I don’t think anyone actually takes them any more seriously than a mcdonalds ad implying eating their hamburger will make one more like the cool sports star being paid a million to hold the hamburger.

nope, the phones are very profitable.

Yep, I meant this in spirit, not literally, but looks like I was wrong even in spirit:

https://sixcolors.com/post/2023/02/apple-results-and-charts-...