I don't think it is so subjective. Look at the customer satisfaction scores. You could certainly correlate those with measurable aspects of the user experience

I don't think it is so subjective. Look at the customer satisfaction scores. You could certainly correlate those with measurable aspects of the user experience (software crashes, support handling, camera speed, render jank, etc). A lack of good hw/sw integration will show up. As for not having the best hardware, what can you see about the A* series chips? They are industry leading year after year. Why? Apple took development in house [1]. Apple is now taking modem [2] and display technology [3] in house. They are doing all the right things. [1]https://appleinsider.com/articles/08/04/23/apple_buys_chip_designer_pa_semi_for_278_million https://appleinsider.com/articles/08/04/23/apple_buys_chip_d... [2]https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/07/apple-to-acquire-the-majority-of-intels-smartphone-modem-business/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/07/apple-to-acquire-the-... [3]https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-19/apple-is-said-to-develop-displays-to-replace-samsung-screens https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-19/apple-is-...