Not sure where the “only fanboy desire” syndrome is coming from.
I don’t buy everything Apple. I buy what I like from Apple. And I like this: superior interface for management with clear-cut and useful rewards.
I currently use a debit card by Simple (as close you can get to the Apple Card with debit, white card that’s “showy”, and superior interface) and a simple credit card with no rewards.
Apple Card will likely replace both for me.
There are definitely better cards out there for “pro credit card users.” But not with the integration and user interface. I’ve got no interest in those after trying a couple of them. Amazon Prime was pretty good in terms of rewards (but not the Chase interface), while IHG was a mess with rewards and ended up killing the flight miles program which was my main intent with it. So I had to cash it out to Amazon gift cards…
Yeah, I’ll take an Apple Card.