Is the comparison fair? I haven't tried Angular 2, but it seems much more full-featured than React. For example, I guess that Angular 2 includes a router, while React doesn't, and just a few days ago there was a vitriolic thread just here on HN about the state of react-router.
If you look at react-redux-starter-kit [1], I would absolutely not say that it's simple. This file [2] is only 12 lines of code but can you call it simple? I don't think so.
It's not a fair comparison. React is just a view layer. It's not trying to offer everything that you'd need to write a web application.
React has become synonymous in some people's minds with "React + a bunch of other stuff", but this wasn't intentional. It's an unfortunate side effect of its popularity.
If you look at react-redux-starter-kit [1], I would absolutely not say that it's simple. This file [2] is only 12 lines of code but can you call it simple? I don't think so.
[1] https://github.com/davezuko/react-redux-starter-kit
[2] https://github.com/davezuko/react-redux-starter-kit/blob/mas...