It’s only a guaranteed 7.5% back if you have the CSR. There’s plenty of precedence for “feature/perk cards” to have poorer returns on spend than “points cards.”
At the end of the day, a bean counter needs to say that card XYZ is profitable. If the Sapphire Reserve gives even more bonus categories then an already borderline unprofitable card becomes an unprofitable card.
it doesn’t surprise me that Chase is emphasizing the no annual fee Freedom cards. I think based
on the economy a $550 AF card is a tough sell.
I predict nothing will be done to the Sapphire Preferred and it will get AMEX Green treatment for the foreseeable future. Perhaps one day they will revamp it like AMEX finally did.