>Apps may change and often experience “enshittification.” Hardware can break but non-connected hardware is otherwise unlikely to change.

This is a huge part of it. Connected apps are never complete. They can't be. They must always evolve in pursuit of the marginal user, eventually betraying their core audience.

An unconnected single-purpose device doesn't need to make anyone happy other than the user who owns and operates it, which makes it more valuable for the user in the long-run.