Except it is better in the only way that matters: many people prefer it - especially those who can afford the premium over Android phones. The fact is, convenience and ease of use most definitely IS a feature, and for many it's the most important one. Calling 500M+ people worldwide "zealots" is something only a zealot would do.
Perfect example: Apple Pay. Google has had NFC payments via Google Wallet in Android for years. They could have built a huge business there, but they completely fucked it up. They put out the feature with almost no retailer support, minimal bank support, even worse CE vendor support, only in the US, and a half-assed marketing effort even for Google's usually low standards.
Apple waited until the feature was relevant (secure credit cards are coming to the US this year), they could design a much more convenient UI (iTunes/Passbook/Thumb ID), launched their solution with dozens of major retailers, bank deals, service beyond the US, and the usual insane Apple marketing hype. Rumor has it they even negotiated a small transaction fee from banks - that alone could make it a multi-billion dollar business very quickly.
Technical innovation is not everything, and it's often not the most important thing. Timing and execution are often the difference.