> Being a technology follower is 100% compatible with being a user experience innovator.

I think you are making the same mistake that OP.

You think R&D in the video game industry is releasing more powerful systems. It’s not. R&D is proposing innovative value proposition. Nintendo does that all the time from the Switch to the weird game with cardboard. Nintendo does a lot of R&D in an industry where their competitors do very little and mostly just update their existing product. Calling them an exemple of a follower couldn’t be further from the truth.

Apple indeed used to do a lot of R&D. They do a lot less nowadays.