It’s more boring than this, I think. The AI fomo is real, so they cram that in rather clumsy and ultimately pointless. But there were so many missed opportunities on Apple and Samsung flagships this year and it boils down to the capitalistic urge to save money and charge customers the same, and having no real competition. OPPO, one plus, vivo all have better devices, but importing them and getting them to work on US carriers is basically not possible. Not to mention the incentives the carriers throw at you to keep you locked in to that manufacturer.

More importantly, how are we getting them out?

Espresso pods are usually aluminum, and recyclable. Amazon and other cheap brands do make plastic ones now that the patent ran out, but the better brands are not plastic.

Did they try being a Korean battery company?