I do think that React in its history has been able to evolve quite meaningfully, and in a good way (lifecycle methods -> hooks), but in the more recent years, less so.
I think React and JSX and custom components as they are in React with JSX have people "programming" things, that don't need that kind of programming, as they are static things, that do not need the power of a full blown programming language behind them. In a way JSX is even more cumbersome than some PHP, because it makes you learn a new wannabe HTML syntax, which is not HTML (for example classList instead of class) for little benefit on most websites.
Enough to make it worth it to switch, but not so much that it's hard to switch
> often iteration is better and cheaper
Fortunately React has had major changes over its lifetime that iterating with React was/is the better and cheaper solution.