And that's it right there...
iPhones are lasting longer and have all the power most people need. Apple keeps bumping up the specs, but for the average user, it doesn't matter. So there's no need to drop $900-$1200 on a new one.
I had an iPhone 4, and didn't upgrade until the later version of the iPhone 6. I held onto that one until it started experiencing battery problems (planned obsolescence anyone?) and bought an iPhone 8. I can't see needing another for a few more years.
This year, I was excited for the release of the new iPad Pro. I use the heck out of my current iPad Pro and in this case, the spec bump was a welcome sight as I use Photoshop quite a bit and would love to have it on the iPad (coming in 2019). But just after the tablet was released, it appears that users are experiencing bent units, and a popular YouTube video came out showing how easy it was to fold in half. The tester described it as "mashed potatoes wrapped in tin foil". Apple forgot apparently to reinforce the thin aluminum enclosure in pursuit of weight. So now that's off for me. Add to that the price bumps, and the lack of any real new products or even a refresh on it's tent-pole line of Macs, and Apple is in trouble.
Apple has been rudderless in the past few years. Cook needs to go. The company needs a true visionary back in charge again.
If that’s the case, how did Apple make a record profit in what is normally one of the slowest quarters of the year? They didn’t do it by selling the lower priced iPhones. People opted for the higher priced iPhones. . . and the iPhone XS and XSmax were only available for the last two weeks of that quarter. . . so they did it when people were holding off waiting for the newer models. The Apple quarterly profit was 20% year over year what it had been last year. . . and they sold more Macs and iPads. . . Plus a 30% increase in services.
I held onto that one until it started experiencing battery problems (planned obsolescence anyone?) and bought an iPhone 8. I can't see needing another for a few more years.
No planned obsolescence, just that you kept your iPhone so long the battery needed replacing. . . and the fact the upgraded apps grew beyond the capabilities of the "later version" of that iPhone 6’s processor and started drawing mare amperage from the poor, old, depleted battery than it could safely provide.
Re: the bending of iPad Pros. The same bozo who bent that iPad Pro did the same to each model of the iPad Pro when they came out. . . They are built the same way and are just about as easy to bend. The average man can put about 220 lbs of force between his hands the way he held that iPad Pro to bend it. I don’t know about your strength, but I’ve easily been able to bend a ⅜” steel rod with my hand. You can bend any iPad in the same way even if you were to put re-inforcing rods in them. iPads aren’t intended to stand up to force such as he puts on them. . . He gets them free from his "sponsor" and it’s no skin off his nose how he destroys them.
Are you seriously planning to carry one around without a case? So far the bent iPad Pro reports I’ve seen are purely from him. . . No where else. His and his sponsor’s purpose is to elicit the reaction he got from you. . . To suppress Apple products success.