The market is kind of a trap. They sell the expensive, high end stuff for the suckers who are willing to buy them, and for those who demand the absolute best — for whatever reason. They all sell cheaper phones. This year, it was incredibly obvious that, dollar for dollar, the iPhone 17 is the best iPhone deal, but Apple got shit earlier this year when they released the 16e at the price used 15 Pros were going for (when the 16 Pro/Max was the latest model). The 16e has a couple advantages over the 15 Pro, like the custom Apple modem and… I think there was one other thing? Very minor though. Apple used to sell a cheaper phone, the SE, and the SE 2 and 3 are modeled after the iPhone 8, but they have the guts of an 11, the difference being, the 3 supports 5G. I had the SE 2 and got it for $250. It was $200 but I paid $50 to go from 64GB (base model) to 128GB. These days, you can’t get an iPhone that low. You have to pay more, or pay with your privacy and go Android. I’ve heard lots of great things about the latest Galaxy A phone. It’s $200, it’s 128GB storage, 4GB RAM (a bit low for modern Android… even a bit low for iOS), “decent-ish” cameras, 6.7", 1080p, and it refreshes up to 90Hz. Apparently, it’s a pretty decent phone for the money. But honestly, privacy or otherwise, I’m kinda done pretending Apple has the high ground or that one brand is inherently better than the other. I still like Apple for the Mac. I don’t like the direction Windows has gone (though I quite enjoy the Windows 11 machine I use at work, and I’ve set it up differently to how everyone else has theirs… I would not choose Windows for my home computer, if it could even run it). As I said, as others have said, phone makers have good phones at lower prices, and the high end is kind of a scam. All you’re missing out on with cheaper phones is AI (which I don’t need or really care about missing) and high end gaming… which I also don’t care about. Apple has some “AAA” Ubisoft and Capcom games like Assassin’s Creed and Resident Evil games on the iPhone, and apparently they look great for running on a <7" screen, but I’m not interested. I’ll take a run in Subway Surfers every now and then, but for actual “gaming,” I have an Xbox for that. I just want my phone to be a handheld personal computing device, and that’s not a good look for gaming.