As you’ve noted, Apple can’t win.
1. People rant for a cheaper iPhone
2. Apple builds cheaper iPhone, and a darned excellent one at that according to almost everyone, the Xr/11
3. People rant because excellent cheaper phone doesn’t have all the features of the flagships (at the same cheaper price).
Not what happened. Definitely not.
Apple raised the price of the iPhone, which has historically been $650. Apple decided to raise it to $1,000 adding features which are available in devices for a much lower price. Apple decided to stick with an old design for four years (since iPhone 6 to iPhone 8) so it could launch a new one for a significant higher price. The iPhone XR is not a “cheaper model”, it is still $50 more expensive than any base iPhone used to cost in the past, under Steve Jobs. Tech is supposed to get cheaper over time, and not more expensive.
I bought a Samsung Galaxy M30 as my secondary phone. It costs some $200, and it has a bright 6.4 AMOLED screen with a 2280x1080 resolution, with just a small notch. I put it side-by-side with my iPhone X screen and I cannot tell which one is better. It has facial recognition and 64 GB of storage. And a 5,000 mAh battery. Of course it is made of plastic and does not have some fancy features such as wireless charging. Much slower processor and cameras not as good. But the basic stuff is all there, with terrific battery life. If this phone costs $200, there is no reason why Apple should not be able to deliver a $650 OLED iPhone 11.
Tim Cook is being a shareholder-pleaser with the strategy of market segmentation. He does not care about offering second-tier iPhones and iPads so there could be a price range for the higher-end. Steve Jobs had a different philosophy, and the iPhone only became the huge product it is because there was only one model available every year, and lesser iPhones were never produced. It was either the iPhone or the user should look elsewhere. Now you have iPhone, cheaper and worse iPhone, or better and more expensive iPhone.