I don't mean to be rude, but this analysis seems remarkably ignorant of the Android ecosystem.
Flagship Android handsets have been hovering around the 5-5.5" mark for some time now. 1080p is now old hat, with LG, Samsung, Lenovo and Oppo offering 1440p displays. Gruber's definition of "amazing ... year-over-year improvement" seems to mean "catching up with last year's Android devices".
The iPhone is a great device and set the pace for modern smartphone design, but it seems wildly hyperbolic to applaud Apple for their continued innovation. It seems to me that Apple are now a backmarker, chasing the frenetic pace of the hyper-competitive Android market. iPhones are still very fine devices, but they are no longer a class apart in terms of build quality, industrial design or innovation.
