There are so many just either vague or completely inaccurate statements in your post. Not even sure how to respond.
Well, let's see. The TL;DR to everything I am going to say below is basically that Apple should probably get used to being its own toughest competitor.
The masses? If you consider the global market, Apple products (both phones and computers) are definitely not a majority, not even close. Their margins are high though which is why they are what they are today. So, I wouldn't really say 'masses'. More like a large chunk of the more affluent consumers.
Take for instance the iPhone. Apple reportedly has over a billion iPhones in active use right now. This may be a small number percentage-wise, but it's still a very big number in an absolute numerical sense, especially when you realise that this is all by one company.
In addition, because of Apple making the effort to add cohesiveness and commonality between their products, it's more likely for an iPhone user to use other Apple products. The end result is that a billion iPhone users also represent a billion people less likely to use non-Apple devices and services going forward.
This should be a highly concerning development for the competition, especially when you consider that approximately half of Apple users own just one device - the iPhone. This group serves as a prime market for additional Apple products like iPads, apple watches and AirPods, as well as various Apple services. I expect this percentage to decrease in the coming years, further strengthening Apple's competitive position, while simultaneously weakening that of the competition.
This is why I say that even for a company of Apple's size, they are still only just getting started. My bet is that Apple will go on to dominate the wearables space, due to their success with custom silicon, as well as possessing the right corporate culture, product development process and business model which few other companies possess.
This is the kind of stupidity that fanboism reveals. Its great that you like Apple products, you should, they are good. But any logical person will realise that Apple is a corporation. Their ultimate goal is to make profits. If they have no serious competition, they will absolutely charge more for their products. More than what they would have in the case where they did have serious competition.
That's just the problem - there simply isn't any meaningful competition for Apple. This isn't blind fanboyism; it's just calling it as it is.
Apple is sailing forward with a strengthening ecosystem made possible by a clear product vision and a functioning organisational structure that prioritises design and user experience above all. In comparison, I find the competition to be rudderless.
Samsung continues to aimlessly launch new products and features for no other reason than to say they are first, and they often aren't even ready for public usage.
Apple was supposed to be crushed by the local competition in China. In contrast, the iPhone seems more popular in China than ever.
Google's decision to prioritise technology over design tends to result in features that look compelling on paper, but fall apart once you get to the user experience.
Amazon clearly made the wrong bet on smart speakers.
Microsoft's foray into the consumer market with their surface products seem to be met with only limited success.
Facebook is in a whole world of hurt simply thanks to a single update pushed out by Apple.
Apple Music has made noticeably inroads despite Spotify, and the presence Netflix hasn't stopped people from subscribing to multiple video streaming services, of which TV+ is one.
Now, the narrative is about how we are somehow being forced to buy Apple products against our will, or how government regulators are the only entities capable of protecting Apple users from Apple itself.
For the past 10+ years (I got my first Apple product in 2011, and would go on to follow Apple-related news from then on), it seems to me that the tech news cycle has basically been dominated by a steady stream of how the rest of the entire tech industry was expected to put Apple in its place (eg: Android's vast market share), or how Apple was one iPhone update away from implosion, or that it was no longer innovating simply because it wasn't doing what other tech companies were doing. Instead, what we saw was a series of fails, flops and disappoints from basically everyone else but Apple.
And that to me is symptomatic of the main problem - that when things don't go as planned, competitors look for something else to blame when the problem is likely due to internal issues like a bad vision, inadequate corporate culture, or (more likely) a lack of understanding as to what makes Apple unique.
It's just hard to root for the competition who has so clearly lost their way.