Go check a place like AliExpress

They’ve got a lot of referbs and knock-offs (and the occasional rocks-in-a-box scam), which is one reason why prices can seem suspiciously low.

Which isn’t to say American phones aren’t overpriced. But the way AliExpress vendors make money isn’t by simply undercutting American retails. They still have to source their product from somewhere, and that often means cutting corners or using substandard parts.

we do live in a Marketing-heavy society and people are almost conditioned to go for expensive branded stuff.

The other side of the marketing-heavy society is constantly being burned by “discount” products that are low-quality imitations. Case in point, back when Black Friday was a big deal, retailers would often source cheaper versions of well-known brands and use deceptive advertising to convince people the big TV you were buying at a 80% discount the day after Thanksgiving was comparable to the one you’d have gotten the day before.

Buying “full price” is often a hedge against getting one of these bait-and-switch marketing gimmicks.