Why did phones become so expensive?

Why did phones become so expensive?
Remember when flagship phones were just $300?

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Consumers keep proving time and time again they'll buy whatever they're offered for whatever it's priced as long as it's got a larger number on it. So... prices keep rising.

dumbphone is still cheap

You can buy great phones for $200-300

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Flagships cost about the same.

Moto Startac, Ericsson T18, Nokia 7110 those where all near 1k€ inflation adjusted here.

Phones like Nokia 8810, 8800 where easily 2k€ inflation adjusted.

>paying more than $50 for a phone

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They just diversified in their price ranges.
A $300 phone has all the functions you need and the performance you expect, a more expensive phone only improves very little on those features with diminishing returns the more money you spent
Just like a $30 handbag has the same features as a $300 luxury bag

but phones are still cheap

Moto G, moto E Plus. Honor 6 Lite

under $200

Full HD screens, 2-3GB Ram, good performance, great cameras, micro-sd support, great battery life

but are they missing a headphone jack and do they have wireless charging?

Because retards are willing to pay that much.

Used flagships from >2014 cost about $100 and can do any task as long as you replace stock rom with something like lineage os.
>posted from htc one m8 bought for $45 because the battery was dead and the owner thought the phone was fried

You can get an S7 for $300 if you really insist on wireless charging

battery life

>buying used shit
enjoy your piss soaked phone

>great cameras
moto G here.

Nah.

Othewise, yeah it's a fucking great phone. I don't regret the purchase at all, I just wish the camera were a liiiiittle better.

you replace the battery

>he never had the greatest phone ever

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Yeah but the battery doesn't last and the screen loses touch.

>wireless charging
Are you a 16 year old girl?

this

Mine's battery gave up a year ago (Got it on release date). Best android phone I ever owned, replaced the battery and still working today

>have redmi 5 plus
>spent $170
>routinely commented on by normies
"dude what phone is that??"

don't fall for the western jew, they just take chink phones and market them differently and add a mark up of 500%

>do they have wireless charging?
honestly don't get this, why do people care about "wireless" charging?
how is it any better than just charging a phone the old fashioned way?

this. I would never use this new useless dangerous shit they are ading to phones, like fingerprint scanners (don't even have mine actvated) or wireless charging

You buy Phones between 50-1000 bucks.

You don't have to buy top price phones. You can buy a mid-range that does everything well.

itoodlers will buy anything

>he doesn't like fingerprint scanners
Why? I've registered both my thumbs on my Mate 10 and it's the most convenient thing ever. I understand the hatred over face recognition systems but why this?

>willingly giving your biometric data over to big data

kek, you are too dumb to criticize

>implying 95% of Jow Forums EVER had a heatgun in their own hand

Most people on here wouldn't even open an iphone 5.

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fingerprint scanner is actually useful though
it's a lock to your phone that only you can open and it works instantaneously

>only you can open

Actually it is the other way around, people can force you physically to unlock your phone with your finger, they can't force you physically to give up a pass phrase or even a pin.

My fingerprints were stolen after my last job lost all my biometrics, making my own body a security risk

Why is there no love for smaller smartphones? Finding anything under 5.5" is a ballache and as OP stated you either pay £300+ for a new handset or settle for a cheaper model that's older and probably out of support already because of that retarded two-year limit.

One of the few good things about WinPho was the 3year updates that were tied to the OS rather than the handset.
Windows 8.1 phone? 3years from 8.1 release
Can you phone support WinPho 10? Great have another 3years support

because manlets and handlets aren't the first priority when designing a phone

Nah man, I know. I've just given up this fight a long time ago. I tried going Google-free for a few weeks till I realized most apps I needed, like my local taxi app, required Google services to run. Till an alternative comes along, I don't see a point in this mini privacy revolution.

Holy shit. How did that happen?

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>Till an alternative comes along, I don't see a point in this mini privacy revolution.
There is no point for you, they already have all your data lol.

Hence, 'I've given up this fight'. Can you read?

interestingly enough, the iPhone 6 is one of the easiest phones to repair

there's no need for a heatgun like the Samsungs from and after the S6

just unscrew the two screws at the bottom and use a suction cup to pull the screen assembly, it's not glued to the device, instead it just clips into the body

afterwards everything is easy to replace as you're not messing with the fragile screen

Don't know if the iphone 7 or 8 are this easy as well

>till an alternative comes along

No, you can't read.

for me, its the s9

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>Why did phones become so expensive?
They actually became cheaper.
A flagship flip phone in 2005 or so was 600$. That's about a grand now.

this.
hitler should have gassed everyone under 5'7" or any male with a hand length of less than 7 inches.

I know, that's why I said most of g wouldn't even open that.
As soon as they see the ribbon cable they'd be /out/

>they can't force you physically to give up a pass phrase or even a pin.
With a baseball bat, yes they can

Now if you're talking about law enforcement in certain nations, yeah, that's a different matter.

If someone is going to go that far they can probably also get you to give them your code. I mean if someone puts a knife to your throat and asks you for your pin are you not going to give it to them?
Anyway, I can understand this concern if you are someone who might be targeted with these kinds of information theft, but that really isn't going to be a concern for most people.

>yes they can

No they can't.

No they can't.

This. The main thing you pay flagship price for as opposed to $300-$400 are actually good cameras. Everything else you probably won't notice except for maybe screen and speaker.

Well as I said, if the data on your phone is more valuable to you than your life/serious physical injury, then avoid a fingerprint password. But this is a non-issue for the vast majority of people.

I had to open my iPhone 5s because dust kept getting into the camera lens. Was pretty easy honestly, maybe a total of 15-20 minutes in and out, including time to read instructions. Prying the damn thing apart is a bit frustrating but if you are careful and patient then it's not bad at all. Absolute dream compared to repairing, say, a Microsoft Surface.

I imagine because they're putting so much RAM and NAND in them now with HiDPI displays.

>Be me
>Interpreting graphical symbols on elector-acoustic transducer while using public transportation service
>particularly displeasing
>Indication to acquire tablet
>Tacky ones carry electrons for only 4-5 hourglasses to operate
>favorable units postulate more than an adequate laptop
>Kindle performs fellatio
>Can't IEEE 802.11ac

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the blu tank II is good as well

Bought my Galaxy S5 for £280. Can't get as good of a phone these days for that money. I think there's only one phone anywhere near that cost with an OLED screen FFS.

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who in their right god damn mind pays more than 300$ for a phone

Free market.

The Razr was $600 at launch dude.

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supply and demand

more specifically rabid demand. whatever apple offers, consumers must absolutely have. it's worse than cocaine. that's like when you have withdrawals and your dealer says he's out but he'll make it specially available to you for 3x the price. you can't refuse.

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Moto g5 is only $150 with a headphone jack. And it has FM radio. Only stupid flagships are missing the headphone jack. Budget phones actually have more features nowadays. It also has a micro sd card slot.

It's kind of neat to just toss your phone on the desk and have it charge, but yeah it's better to just plug it in since you can actually use it while charging.

capitalism was a mistake

Fully automated communism where every prole is given a flagship phone when

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and a removable battery. i gave waifu a g5.

cringe

S7

Maybe when we let computers govern the world they could make communism possible by assigning jobs and managing the economy

What?
Flagships have always been much more expensive, at least 600$
if anything, the lower-midrange is much better now and a lot cheaper: seriously, if you're looking for a new phone right now there is really no reason to spend over ~200$.

what would you recommend?

Chinkphones are just that.

I still use mine to this date :^)
replaced battery and power/volume buttons last year

Businesses don't market towards NEETs