Look at the variety in how cars used to look, versus how standardized they are today:
Same goes for cell phones. What was once a wide variety of shapes, colors, and button layouts, has all evolved into the "perfect" black slate of glass you see at the bottom of this image:
There's a critical point in a product's timeline where design hits a plateau. The the marginal cost of introducing further modifications to a design surpasses its marginal benefit. You pretty much "peak out" in design, until brand new technology comes and blows everything you know away. This phenomenon is known as the "era of ferment", and that's where AI is currently, ushering in the "new wave" of design for all kinds of products.
Shout out to Ethan Mollick for highlighting this. I've always understood this process but wasn't aware we had a name for it.
So knowing this now, I naturally look at hardware wallets and go hmmmmmmm:
What will the standardized Bitcoin hardware device look like, in your opinion? Have we already reached that point? Which device (if it exists) is the "winning" design?
What about nodes? Miners? How will these designs evolve over time?