But it isn't the leapfrog over the competition that people have come to expect...
I think this is their biggest problem. They see & take a few opportunities to be disruptive, and now people are expecting them to be disruptive every frickin' time they have a press announcement. People don't appreciate how rare such opportunities arise, how rarer still to be able to spot them and exploit them, and rarer still to do it consecutively. There's no way they can sustain the drama and anticipation of product releases, especially since the rumor mill has gotten so good at piecing together component leaks.
Well, I guess when your announcement is based around language like "The biggest thing to happen to iphone since iphone", people are going to expect some big changes. Expectations might have been lower if they'd downplayed it a bit and called it iPhone 4X.
I thought phrases like "the biggest foo since sliced bread" means that sliced bread was a greater foo, but other intervening foos may be lesser. That doesn't seem terribly hyperbolic to me. The retina display on the 4 is the only one that I would say rivals the changes in the 5. The numbers are arbitrary anyway. People are silly. Apple tries to be as silent as possible and people get lathered up anyway.
I think this is their biggest problem. They see & take a few opportunities to be disruptive, and now people are expecting them to be disruptive every frickin' time they have a press announcement. People don't appreciate how rare such opportunities arise, how rarer still to be able to spot them and exploit them, and rarer still to do it consecutively. There's no way they can sustain the drama and anticipation of product releases, especially since the rumor mill has gotten so good at piecing together component leaks.