Ive doesn’t set the prices. Marketing sets the prices.

Anaemic battery life? I’ve not seen that on a Mac laptop. These days they’re as good as or better than Windows. As for RAM, that’s not Ive’s decision either.

On the desktop, the Mac line is more segmented than ever, especially for pros: there’s the iMac, iMac 5K, iMac Pro (with external GPU if you want), and soon the Mac Pro. The latter is meant for only very rarified groups of users, and the price tag signals that. If you wanted the equivalent power of that $3k Mac Pro of a few years ago, you’d probably get the iMac 5K or iMac Pro. There’s headroom there.