React's core concept was excellent. It solved many of the issues with previous view libraries. What React turned into over the years is problematic, accumulating bad design decisions until it became the monster that it is.

The way React Native works is an example of how good the original React concept still is. It has nothing to do with HTML, it's made of cross-platform view components. It has similar ergonomics as the web version, like one-way data flow, immediate-mode rendering, view as function of state.

It's true that React has passed its peak usefulness (relative to the problems it brings), in a long tail of decline for the next decade. Newer better view libraries are being created and adopted by the community. Some of them will eventually overtake React as the next standard tool. But they all learned from React's lessons, because it really did push forward the evolution of web development.