I actually think it's very inline with their thinking. Apple has always (since Jobs came back anyway) focused on being smart/choosy about their product lineup,

I actually think it's very inline with their thinking. Apple has always (since Jobs came back anyway) focused on being smart/choosy about their product lineup, but IMO they chase good design, not what's new. If the two happen to coincide with each other, great, but if not, design over something out of this world new. They were in the right place at the right time for the original iPhone, but I think that was an anomaly due to lazy competition. I think Nest had/has similar culture, and they were kind of a spin off from Apple anyway (designer of the iPod or something like that?). Thermometers are not new, but they managed to clean it up a bit (I'd like to see the same happen to receivers, why is the UI so terrible for them still). I suspect their design values will preclude them from ever making a phablet, and that there is a line in the sand beyond which a device is too large, and at that point they will try to figure out an alternative solution rather than boosting physical phone size, but I don't think the current 5/5s screen size is at that line yet.