Apple products are worth the price. The fee paid to purchase Apple products. The fee paid knowing the product has limited life span. This debate has flourished since Apple began. I'm not sure it's a real argument or a fallacy. Many other electronic companies don't allow their products upgraded. Many companies do not have the software polish Apple products contain.
I've used a recycled iPhone Max 11 four years. The lightning port is too loose now to work at all. After tax returns I picked up Lark M2 mics for content creation. I was going to use my 11 for voice recording storage, but it wasn't possible due to the port. I remembered weeks later that I had an iPhone SE 2nd generation unused.
The SE is going on six years old. It's smaller. It's port is still good. I reset the phone because I couldn't log into my old deleted Apple account. It didn't take long to wipe the phone and get up and running. I added garage band and plugged my mic receiver into the SE. The phone's software automatically switched to the external mic and that was that.
A week earlier I'd tried the same on a Samsung tablet I've had. Yet, the tablet wouldn't recognize the mic. I tried several types of voice recording software. None worked. Typical Samsung.
My SE cost about $500 when I bought it. It still works and works well. My recycled iPhone Max 11 is still working for the most part. My conclusion is that Apple is worth the money when you are a creator. Apple is worth the money when you want to have easy connections because all other Apple users have the same free software. Apple is for busy people. Android is for tinkerers.