Like everything else, it depends. Here's an example. A few years ago I was contracted to build a device that would input some data, do real time signal process

Like everything else, it depends. Here's an example. A few years ago I was contracted to build a device that would input some data, do real time signal processing, and output the data in a different format. The quickest and probably cheapest way to get it done was to use a $15 analog chip to do the bulk of the processing. I based that board on an Arduino Nano (clone, of course!). A year or two later, much faster microcontrollers like ESP32 had arduino support and were trivial to use. A single ESP32 would probably have replaced most of the other components on my board, reduced inventory required, reduced power consumption and a host of other benefits. But I never bothered because there was no economic pressure to do so. I was selling a $300 device to a single customer who didn't care about the price, and I had better things to do with my time than redesign a board that worked perfectly. TBH, if I wanted to, I could probably have increased the price of the current board by the same amount that redesigning with an ESP32 would have gained me. This is one reason I avoid consumer products like the plague. I'd rather work with people to whom there's no effective difference in cost between $300 hardware and $700 hardware because the benefit to them far exceeds what I'm charging. I guess I'm agreeing with you :-)