[tudborg]

Althought that might be your preference, I'm fairly certain very few people feel the same. I too want a phone that "works", but I'd never pay $1000+. I can live with some sacrifices if i can get a Good Enough phone for ~$400. And imo, OnePlus One is fits the bill quite well. I was sceptical about no SD card and the non-removable battery, but when the battery lasts for days, and i have 64GB eMMC and online backup, I found I don't need those things anyway.

[ghshephard]

I think there is a huge market of people who wouldn't think twice of paying $1000 for, even among those who aren't really wealthy. Include me in that market. My smartphone is my most important possession, and I use it more than anything else that I own, including my laptop. With reasonably good care, a smart phone will last for 2 years, and, at that time, have 50% of its original value.

So - if a really solid smartphone was available for $1500, that is $750 over 24 months, or $31/month. There are a lot of things that I pay $31/month for, that don't give me the same value as my smartphone, that I would happily give up to get a world-class best-of-breed experience.

And realize, we are comparing with a "good enough" $400 phone - which would probably only have 25% of it's value ($100) after 2 years - so, $300/24 month or $12.50/month, so what we are really asking ourselves, is do we want to spend $12.50 for a good enough phone, or $31/month for a best-in-class phone. I'm certainly willing to pay the extra $19/month.