Of course it is relevant, because you can't tweak an iPhone. All you can do is buy a model and then wait for another shit incremental update in a few years. And in any case what you are talking about shows only equivalency, not superiority, and yet iPhones cost twice as much off contract and at least a third as much on contract.
We are talking about performance and you are literally saying that being able to boost performance doesn't matter. Of course it does. It would be like arguing that a computer you need to send away to get more RAM is better than one where you plugin another stick and go.