The article does address what they see as the difference ("its investments in product, consumer experience, site publishing, voice, and hardware are all directions that have clearer moats")

That said I think it is pretty easy to make a case that these would-be differentiators are either currently underwhelming or completely unproven (as in the case of hardware).

Right. Arguing with the original article, not you, my counterpoint would be, “Sure, if they’re able to do that. But so could any of the other model-only competitors.” The best you can say today is that they have announced an intention to do those things, but in no way have they established themselves as being successful, yet. And the model-only Chinese providers have access to lots of e.g. wearable and consumer tech.