i used to get phones in the $100-$150 price range. and i'd usually buy a new one after a year or so because the old one became unusable. screen damage (not crac

i used to get phones in the $100-$150 price range. and i'd usually buy a new one after a year or so because the old one became unusable. screen damage (not cracks, but mostly defective touchscreens or lines appearing), bad battery, etc, things that are expensive to repair, and not worth it for a cheap phone. but for my last phone a year ago i got a refurbished phone that would have cost $300-$500 new. and the difference was massive. this phone has a way better battery life than i can remember from any of my previous phone. it has a better camera and more ram, and is faster (when previously i felt that more ram and faster cpu would affect the battery life negatively) now this is just an anecdote, and it is very subjective, but i came away with the impression that spending more in a phone can be worth it. the downside is that for my usage this phone doesn't last any longer than my previous ones. i broke the screen and had to replace it, which wasn't cheap, and the new screen also has some cracks already, which means my average spending on phones will go up if i replace this one with something similar next year.