If you price out a good quality pre-built Windows PC or a good quality Windows laptop, pricing is really comparable to a Mac or MacBook. The $300 Walmart Black Friday laptops can't be compared in terms of build quality and components. The days when Macs actually cost a lot more than the equivalent PC are pretty far in the past, but it's pretty interesting to see how brands known for being premium still carry the perception of being expensive even when they are not.
And yeah, it's well-known in the mobile phone industry that Apple sets the pricing, everyone else prices based on what Apple charges. Samsung Galaxy is every bit as expensive as iPhone for this reason. All other Android phones also set prices based on what Apple's prices are and then undercut by a certain percentage. This is why whenever Apple has raised prices, everyone else raises their prices too, because the whole industry's pricing is set by Apple.
It's been interesting watching headphone pricing adjusting the past few years in the same way after Apple entered that market, and I expect prices of watches will also fall in line the same way within the decade. Apple has that kind of market power, everyone else has to get out of Apple's way when it comes to what stuff costs to consumers.
This isn't an Apple-only phenomenon, everyone knows that AMD sets the pricing of their GPU's based on what Nvidia's prices are. Nvidia controls GPU market pricing, AMD and Intel simply look at what Nvidia charges and undercut a certain amount.