A bit like in the coffee thread, there are people that use phones, and there are people for whom phones are a hobby.
That latter group turn out every year, to compare this year's phone to last year's, and pore over benchmarks in endless detail. Nowadays they're always disappointed because 12mths just isn't that much time any more in progress terms.
Arguably the non-hobbiests are the bigger group and they aren't upgrading every year anyway, so it does actually feel like progress.
I'm in the second camp and jumped from a Pixel 6 Pro to a P10 Pro XL and it felt like a huge jump to me. But now I won't upgrade for three years at least, so I don't really care if the 11 is only marginally better.