The alternative is more likely - it becomes commoditized and many programs are offering it, so it would be strange for Adobe charge a premium for a baseline feature
Alternatives to every baseline feature they currently charge a premium for exist, but because its industry standard everyone has to pay them.
Nothing Photoshop does today is special, in fact some of the ways it does things are worse than everyone else, e.g many filters being single core constrained and CPU bound.
> Nothing Photoshop does today is special
You seem to be falling into a fallacy common among technical people: that a product's only value is its technical implementation.
Photoshop is sold to businesses. It's value prop is "you will be able to hire anyone and they will be productive day one, which will save a lot of money in training."
People buying photos op don't care about filters being CPU bound. They care about turning work around quickly and getting the next paying gig. A CPU bound filter is statistical noise compared to having to figure out how some different tool works.
I work as a creative director, my anger about this is decades of suffering what I consider substandard tools.
> People buying photos op don't care about filters being CPU bound. They care about turning work around quickly
We definitely do care about our computing power being used to the fullest of it's potential. This is why some of us even do 2D static work in After Effects now because its faster and uses more of the machines power than PS.
I'm really curious why you care about using machines to their potential. Is it cost savings from not having to buy a more expensive machine, philosophical dislike or waste, or does it really come down to hours of non-billable time?
Probably not what most pros are using, but perfectly acceptable tools.
The main advantage Adobe UI has is many people assume they’re stuck learning it at some point. But it’s definitely a waste of time and money if you’re happy as a hobbyist.
The hobbyist market is already served by Photopea, Canva, Snapseed and many others.
Think the artist equivalent of the guy building a AI controlled sentry gun for shooting squirrels with water.
Unless you're arguing that GIMP and Photoshop are treated as identical software by the market, image editing software can not be a commodity.