I think the idea that the A380 is dead has run its course; the apocalyptic A380 blogs have gone out of fashion..Yes, Airbus has announced an end date for the production, but some of these articles go overboard.

We're all aware that economically, the A380 is outdated, but there is no direct competitor at this point. No other aircraft has this capacity. The idea of long&thin routes may make sense for most cases, and in other cases frequency is better than capacity, but for some routes, such as MEL/SYD - DOH/DXB, the A380 is still king (based on the distance, time difference and demand).