Sure, for example, HTML app performance is often constrained more by layout and DOM manipulation than straight line code execution.
On the other hand, a lot of these systems aren't that old. I don't think Android is a Rube Goldberg pile of legacy. But Google acquired a company to get the V8 JS interpreter team for WebKit/Blink, and the Android team just created ART to replace Dalvik. These are smart people who've done a lot of performance measurement and optimization. If the VM didn't matter, it seems like a lot of money and time spent for nothing, right?
On the other hand, a lot of these systems aren't that old. I don't think Android is a Rube Goldberg pile of legacy. But Google acquired a company to get the V8 JS interpreter team for WebKit/Blink, and the Android team just created ART to replace Dalvik. These are smart people who've done a lot of performance measurement and optimization. If the VM didn't matter, it seems like a lot of money and time spent for nothing, right?