What I mean by "second-class citizens" is that, theoritecally speaking, *all* iPhone models that CAN offer any one specific software feature, ^should* offer it. The Pro models should not offer any exclusive software features other than those that *need* specific hardware to work.

That's the expected thing, after all: the more expensive models to have certain exclusive capabilities and/or superior capabilities to ones found in less expensive models, based on better hardware. Software should be - again, in theory - as close to common between those models as it can be.

To artifically keep software features exclusive to Pro models while they could have worked just as well on the mainstream models *does* indicate that users of the latter models are not treated fairly.

Nobody's certain that Apple will do this with the A16-based and the A-15 based models of the iPhone 14. But the company has given enough reason to doubt its choices in the past that now anyone can't help but think Apple is not above of doing something along those lines. It's just too good an opportunity to pass.

Other manufacturers are more or less restricted to what Android can do. If Android does not support a certain feature set on a device based on a certain line of chipsets/processors, manufacturers cannot do anything about it. Apple is in the unique position of controlling the full stack of hardware and software, which is exactly what would make artificlal exclusivity of features so hard to prove.