This is a classical West vs Asian.<p>This glasses case is a very good example. Apple is building a super duper expensive ego-driven project no one will ever buy at this price.<p>The Western world is trying hard to deliver something colossal and giant and sometimes even remarkable. It is driven by ego-centric: "I'm so smart, my product needs to be the best of the best, and I'll be talking to my grandkids about this product". With something like iPhone, it works.<p>The China-style approach is the classical bottom-up approach. I'll build something I can sell today. I'm not afraid to go with sub par product if people will buy it. I will mobilize my group because otherwise, we will not survive. I will sell it a lot. I will iterate a lot. As a result, I will make lots of money and become famous. The outcome is the same, but look at that. China has so many companies now in any area where it competes. And that combines with the government pushing from the top very long term 10 years+ initiatives. Solar, EVs, nuclear, Air industry, and Education in general.<p>This pattern is so deep in the culture. You can even see it with the military. And it's evident that the root cause of the problem is the lack of a healthy environment for manufacturing.<p>Just look at trade wars between China and the West. Microchips aside, what is the subject of war? The US ban pork exports in response to Huawei. Europe is trading French alcohol export quotas for EV imports.<p>This is extremely sad. The impact of the Western world's de-industrialization is huge. The current war in Ukraine emphasizes the Western incapability to produce almost anything in volume. Or with any quality. The few items still good due to 20-30 investments are just a delusion of previous capabilities.