People seem most impressed by the apparent increase in resolution of the images, which is not from a certain point of view the hardest thing to do . HST might have done that if its instruments had been of different pixel size or imaging array size / focal length. Ok, the much larger mirror is an achievement. But anyway, the resolution of the images is often not what really is the limiting factor for photometric observations. Yes it is sharper/higher resolution, but that wasn't the key selling point.
The new thing is observations in the IR, which is somewhat a technical footnote in many gushing announcements of these images (or some discussion here too). And the general public knows little about that detail's importance, especially since the images are stylized / colored anyway to look just like RGB images that we are so familiar with. But everyone can easily appreciate a sharper image.
Anyway, still a momentous achievement. And thank god we have a scientific field where stunning images was enough to get the public to support a $10B project.
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Edit to add: I did not mean to detract from or diminish anyone's appreciation of the images and accomplishment at whatever level they are enjoyed. And of course many here are technically knowledgeable about the IR aspect. I just write to point out that for the most headline-grabbing images and newspaper writers, the sharpness of the images over the actual IR frontier is what grabs the attention.