I think a part of the problem is that the US doesn't have a vast and widespread ecosystem of cheap, relatively simple, slightly rugged android phones like a dev

I think a part of the problem is that the US doesn't have a vast and widespread ecosystem of cheap, relatively simple, slightly rugged android phones like a developing nation market does. Go look at what you can buy for an Android phone if you exchange 100 USD to rupees in Rawalpindi Pakistan for instance. Now imagine you drop your phone or screw up its hardware somehow and want to get it repaired, you can probably fix it at a local repair shop (some 1-man operation in a tiny retail stall) for $20-30 max with basic hand tools. Those guys might have a collection of pieces of the same model phone you have, or the ability to take 4 dead phones and mix/match pieces to make 2 working ones out of them and then re-sell them, etc.