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Apple has more money than God or the US Mint but they are quite content to let their hapless, helpless user base be a worldwide army of beta testers.

Interesting theory - yet Apple releases early betas to developers to test, then to ANYONE who wants to sign up (for FREE) to we in the public beta program. These public betas go through many revisions to address user-reported problems across many device generations. Most iOS releases are relatively bug-free (relatively), and additional issues that arise on general release are almost always quickly addressed with follow-up updates quickly.

If your primary profit is in hardware, would you release the "latest and greatest" hardware (at a premium price) with the older OS that may not even support the new tech you are introducing in your product (without having to kludge together something that may or may not be reliable)?

The conspiracy nuts here on FR, particularly when it comes to Apple, are just as idiotic and ridiculous as the Leftist/Marxist 9-11 conspiracy theorists all over the vast Progressive matrix.

I am not alone in the experience of having Android devices that were absolutely hosed by Android updates (which are almost always manufacturer-specific and pushed out. Slowdowns are the least of your problem when manufacturer updates literally brick your device.

You and the OP keep referring to bugs as 'issues.' Bowdlerizing flaws, especially those which break functionality working in the previous edition may be an interesting linguistic exercise but it does not lessen their number or severity. iOS 10, for example, caused havoc with Bluetooth devices for no apparent good reason, not least because Bluetooth standards hadn't changed which meant the fault was entirely Apple's. The problem was NOT 'quickly addressed' - quite the opposite - and in fact was seemingly ignored or denied by Apple until they issued their usual 'oh yeah, that's a bug after all' admission.

Are issues/bugs addressed? Yes. Are there often many of them? Yes again. Is public outcry the primary driver of Apple's rapid response? Yes again.

Now for the user base. If they download Apple updates in good faith based on Apple's New & Improved marketing, they are entitled to cock a suspicious eye at Apple the NEXT time New & Improved comes around.

Not necessarily. But, again, it is Apple suggesting that the new iOS is a must-have for all device users except for those specifically excluded from upgrade candidacy.

A conspiracy requires multiple parties aligned to perpetrate a fraud or at least an offensive act but Apple is a single monolithic entity as is their mobile technology line. It does not require a conspiracy nor a nut to point out well-documented missteps they have made in the past and to suggest that haste makes waste, which it clearly has on multiple occasions. As before, the chart clearly shows a link between new versions of iOS and problems reported, searched for, etc.

I gladly use and prefer Apple mobile products especially after about 6 months of Android hell but adoption and use doesn't require unblinking religious commitment to a company, its software or its hardware. Apple have QA and customer service difficulties like any other vendor and it isn't blasphemous to point this out.