It's because in the USA, there's no benefit to buying a phone without a contract; you're still going to pay the same monthly rate. There may be deals for employ

It's because in the USA, there's no benefit to buying a phone without a contract; you're still going to pay the same monthly rate. There may be deals for employee plans, discounts, or bargaining with the clerk, but for 90%, we just might as well get the $199 iPhone with the outrageous phone plan because we were already going to get an outrageous phone plan no matter what phone you get.