Yeah, but most places (within city limits) there tends to be at least one neon signage visible from somewhere - a nail salon, a barber shop, etc. Regardless, it's a fair point that most places look more like the right than the left images (in the OP)... but not exclusively!
The entire reason the cyberpunk genre was invented was to reflect what modern society looks like, and the inevitable outcome if technology improves, but government policy and power dynamics stayed the same.
The counter genres to cyberpunk are solarpunk (merging society and nature together) and sci-fi (Star Trek being the main example here, being a socialist, post-scarcity society)
Science fiction usually carries with it a desire to rationalize and explain the technology it's built upon, to try and paint a world plausible from a scientific standpoint. You see this a lot with the technobabble in Star Trek.
Cyberpunk has a lot of overlap with science fiction, but usually dives more into the social commentary on society and capitalism, using the technology within as a vehicle to amplify those criticisms. Some cyberpunk works seek to explain their technology and make it seem grounded in the same way sci-fi does, but that is usually secondary to the social and political themes.
This is actually kind of funny when you consider a lot of infrastructure refuses to use newer or better technology in the goal of maximizing profit, which the government also supports via lack of legislation.
Cyberpunk always shows some cool stuff around public transport, yet here we still are in 10 lane highway congested traffic with inefficient SUVs and Trucks since they even killed off sedans.
Cyberpunk public transport usually only exists because most people can't afford cars though, and the routes pretty much exclusively go to the general locations of major employers, sometimes only being available to employees of those companies (they still have pay a fare too of course)
I don't get everyone's obsession with cybernetic implants. If I needed a replacement, sure. But could you imagine today's enshittified corporate structure making a cyberlimb? 100% a massive up front purchase and a hefty subscription, especially if it's not a functional replacement.
Personally I want a functional metaverse. Full dive computing.
Yep cyberpunk still perpetuates the idea that corporations are highly competent and innovators, which just doesn't seem to be true in our current reality. The MBA/financial people have taken over and people that actually want to make cool stuff are no longer in control
I have several RFID and NFC implants. I use them for several things: I have a payment implant so I can pay contactless with my hand (the payment implant is sold by DT's partner Walletmor), I open doors, start my car without keys,, share my contact information, log into my computers and I use my one cryptographic implant for 2FA.
It's not Ghost in the Shell by any stretch of the imagination, but those little implants that you can get today really do make life better and more convenient.
You can buy them already, but they're at least 10 times as expensive as regular cars and you need a piloting license too. Meanwhile regular cars and the normal driving license are already getting pretty expensive for people.
Flying cars also need a runway, a heliport or a wide open space. eVTOLs and other flying cars are usually not small and need more space than a car for taking off or landing, especially in non-ideal weather.
If you want the neon aesthetic, you have to go to Hong Kong.
And also technically speaking, we do have cool cybernetic implants. I mean we also have uncool cybernetic implants, too, but, like, have you seen modern prosthetic limbs? Shits practically sci-fi levels of usefulness; it just doesn't have a sense of touch like they do in the fiction. Shit even cochlear implants are kinda cool, in so far as they can make someone who is deaf or close to deaf able to hear again.
I was looking forward to someday having some nice Cannon or Panasonic or Fujifilm hi-res eyes to replace mine but my insurance won't even land me decent glasses.
I miss being able to read six-point font or see more than ten meters in front of me.