No he doesn't understand.

He does have a good eye for design. And he's used a lot of phones so he certainly isn't inexperienced. But he doesn't understand what tradeoffs are made and why.

Such as bigger battery = heavy big phone. Or newer generation chips being more efficient with the same battery capacity. And recycled Aluminum being nothing special, as it's one of the easiest materials to recycle but recycling it does consume a lot of energy.

Or in this case, repairability of the phone.