I feel like it’s just awkwardly caught in the middle between the downcountry bikes and true trail bikes with more travel.
It’s a conundrum, this type of short-travel trail bike is probably the right bike for 80% of all mountain bikers. It can handle pretty much any trail technical features and will fit right in any sport category XC race. There will be 10% of hard-riding park and enduro riders who will get proper use from a longer travel bike, and 10% who only care about XC speed.
This type of bike makes perfect sense as an Aluminum Top Fuel, under $4k. It does everything well, it isn’t too much bike for mellow local trails but can also handle the trip to the mountains. The Yeti just doesn’t offer much more for twice the price other than a fancy badge, color, and exclusivity (show up to a NICA event and half the bikes are Treks).
It’s also really sad that a few years ago you could get a Blur and Hightower with GX for that same $9.6k.