> phones aren't expensive A new smartphone in the US is $600-800 off contract. In my own experience: that puts it in line with (A) my car which I purchased an

> phones aren't expensive A new smartphone in the US is $600-800 off contract. In my own experience: that puts it in line with (A) my car which I purchased and titled for $500 last year, and (B) my workstation which cost $1200 without peripherals. Both my car and workstation are, unsurprisingly, modular systems that can be useful for years or even decades with proper care. My retired work-station is still in use as a file-server, and that machine is 8 years old. My car is 300,000 miles young without a single major mechanical fault. --- So from where I'm standing: $600 is a rather sizable chunk of change that I'd much rather spend on a system that's _not designed to be disposable._ I can't even find a current-gen smartphone that I'm remotely interested in purchasing. The "smaller and lighter" you speak is not so much _smaller_ but _thinner._ I don't need, or even desire a 1080p screen on my phone; despite being interested in other current gen components like the latest round of cameras. You can't make the physical package and smaller than the _gigantic displays_ these phones are being equipped with. I would sooner part with $600 for an iPhone 4S-sized "endo skeleton" with current gen "RAM and CPU modules" and a slightly smaller battery. A tradeoff that's possible when you're dealing with modules... but a financial disaster when you're trying to design a mass-market phone to compete with the Android flagships.