Any poor quality connector can affect a sector scan and drive performance. Doesn't matter if it's connected to a corroded usb port or a bent internal sata, at the end of the day if you're getting disk errors it's best to measure using two methodologies/data pathways.
Due to the uniquely fucked up way music licensing works, it's likely they license the lyrics through a separate company than the music and probably don't even directly license it themselves (Tidal for example uses Musicmatch's lyric library and api). There's a cost associated with this that is likely outside their control. It's shitty, but it is plalusibly reasonable they implemented this as a cost savings measure.
Yeah. Imo their one hope was to make trackers that leverage both networks, as a sort of middle ground device for like a family with 1 android and 1 iPhone. Without that pivot they've seemed dead since the airtag launch.
I'm also not sure where they got their idea that cloud is cheaper from. On prem has always been cheaper, I've had to walk through fire and flames to get my company to approve cloud hosting as we simply do not have the capacity to be our own mail host. Goodluck explaining tech debt to upper management though, it's like they're allergic to the idea of understanding it.
Although we don't see it, all of these developments do actually eventually make their way into battery tech. The batteries of today are not the batteries of 2014.
China is a massive economy and country with some of the most advanced manufacturering and tooling in the entire world. Yes, it could be shoddy, but it's in a ship and is going to be far more regoriously scrutinized by their regulatory bodies than a normal stationary battery would be. I understand the plausiblity of your comment, but it seems to be rooted in prejudice or extreme ignorance.
These batteries are likely far more complex in packaging, design, and thermal management that any consumer electronic cell. They'll likely "fail safely" if/when they do fail.