Modern semiconductors are also expensive. Designing a new iPhone and bringing it to market takes a long time. Fabbing the semiconductors is a resource-intensive

Modern semiconductors are also expensive. Designing a new iPhone and bringing it to market takes a long time. Fabbing the semiconductors is a resource-intensive process. Even more mundane stuff is expensive. There's a team of highly skilled professionals who just deal with the waterproofing gaskets. A lithography machine is expensive to own and operate. ---- Essentially the same arguments apply to semiconductors as medicine yet I can buy an iPhone for <$2k and still give Apple an extremely generous margin on it. That wonderdrug might cost thousands more despite having a fraction of the people involved in its design/manufacturing, most being paid far less. Scale is part of it, but things like insulin or epinephrine are being produced by the ton with simple processes and still cost hundreds of dollars a year for people. It's not certification either, as other countries don't have the same issues or pay the same high prices.