Given the tone in the initial paragraph, I'm not sure if you're receptive to these arguments, but here goes. Using the very wiki page you linked, over 5 years

Given the tone in the initial paragraph, I'm not sure if you're receptive to these arguments, but here goes. Using the very wiki page you linked, over 5 years the changes were: * 4x in default storage * 8x in default RAM * over 4x in number of pixels (doubling PPI, and increasing height) * 4x increase in camera pixels * Addition of full HD video * Addition of GPS, Compass * 20x (at least) increase in processor performance * 2x increase in battery life * 35% decrease in thickness * 16% in weight * Same cost If all of these are "slight" changes, I'm not sure what to say. Would you say a stock portfolio changed "slightly" if it quadrupled in 5 years? The form factor and design is branding. You might as well say "Porsche has barely changed their form factor in 40 years". The point is to be recognizable, not to arbitrarily change a design. And for a human-interacting product, our hands didn't change much in 5 years, so the "ideal" handheld device shape probably wouldn't change much either (if it does, it likely means we didn't look hard enough the first time around).