Interesting that in the main example you give (and re-design) you don’t consider whether the card should expand in the first place, merely how it should expand. Always worth considering that a) people are usually fine with some scrolling, and b) hiding info isn’t usually a good idea.

Fundamentally, the goal of interaction design is to eliminate interaction. Your re-design adds feedback, one of the Good Things in UI design that you are supposed to do anyway, and which animation can be good for if done properly.

BTW Apple is no longer “a company known for its cutting edge design sensibilities” :-)

http://www.fastcodesign.com/3053406/how-apple-is-giving-design-a-bad-name