“What Apple should have done with the AirPort line is even more obvious. Clearly, this should have been baked into the Apple TV years ago. In other words, the Apple TV could have been and should have been the true “home hub” — not this silliness. The fact that Apple put in all the work they did on HomeKit and yet didn’t realize and/or act on this is, frankly, dumbfounding.
(Basically) every home has a TV. (Basically) every home has the internet. This is literally the entry point into the home. Apple had an opportunity do combine two ho-hum businesses into a very interesting — and just as importantly, very strategic — one.
Nope. Instead, we got a constantly crippled Apple TV, a constantly neglected AirPort, and… the HomePod. Great…
Just to drive it home: these should all be one product. In the living room. The center of your connected device ecosystem in the home.”
I'm saddened and disagree with Apple's exit out of the market. The router is still an essential piece for the Internet age. And the AirPort Extreme made built-in incremental backups available for consumers. Without it, one has to either pay for "local backups" via apps like Super Duper or go online like Backblaze (which I endorse). Either way you'll have to fork out a bit more cash and a bit more manual labor for the consumer (who are not all sophisticated tech-wise).
That device should have been a router/home backup system/mesh enabled/smart device/TV-type/home speaker all in one.
Until the day comes when I need a mesh network, I'll try to preserve my AirPort as long as I can, as that's how my family's computers are backed up (while the data OCD me have a couple of copies also backed up via other means).