I think Apple's main selling point is essentially luxury and status. The "look at me, I have an Apple like you, can I be part of the cool club now". It's not about functionality, which you can get the same for much cheaper. Also Apple's shiny-ness, which it kinda does have. But that's what the author is (poorly) getting at, people are now saying "eh, it's a phone".
I agree with the "shit" category. There are too many shit products being put out for laptops and phones, so it's easy to think to get away from that (and into the cool club) you need apple.