I would argue that Apple card is actually a significantly different and better experience purely by virtue of being able to cycle the number at will. I no longer have to worry about the safety of handing my card number out over the phone. I no longer have to wait for a new card if the old number gets compromised. I no longer have to deal with completely inept new card processing agents who fail to actually send the card to the right address while I'm traveling after half a dozen tries and they keep just sending the damned thing to my house which they know I'm not at.
The innovation is that it is not actually a credit card as previously known. It can't be used manually, it is a way to get retailers to move to Chip and Contactless, which is a way to get them and their merchant acquirers to move to Apple Pay.
