Are there fewer empty blocks?
Have transaction fees increased?
Have any miners dropped out?
Is there a consolidation with some miners buying other mining companies?
Has the price of mining hardware dropped?
Is there any indication of future changes that miners will adopt?
I haven't heard any news of miners buying other mining companies.
The price of old mining hardware has fallen, example S7.
Yep, as usual with any miner, price has fallen. I don't see any change from the previous trend as the hashrate and difficulty continues to steadily rise. S7s are being phased out for S9's and they're going out at a rate that is letting difficulty and hashrate rise.