The Wall Street Journal:

Early reviews of Apple Inc.’s new iPhone 7 were, in a word, “meh.” Pundits praised the many improvements in the device, but a consensus emerged that Apple had not given existing iPhone owners a compelling reason to upgrade.

Why is that? Why are the iPhone, and other computing devices like PCs and tablets, not changing as quickly as they once did? There are many reasons, but the central issue is this: It is harder than ever—more technically difficult, more expensive and more time consuming—to advance the state of the art. Our devices are so complicated that, at their most fundamental level, advancing them further pushes against the boundaries of physics.

That is no reason for despair.

Leaving aside the fact that, contrary to the first sentence, there are no “early reviews” of the iPhone 7 (it’s in the hands of reviewers now but any comment from reviewers is under embargo until next Wednesday), there’s this thought process among the tech media that demands companies, Apple in particularly, “wow” us with every new announcement. Not only is that an impossible standard to meet, it’s remarkably short sighted.