>subsidized through a phone contract or simply buying used

Those aren't solutions because the 'subsidization' is just a payment plan with interest, and the used costs are reflective market prices. It is exactly why whenever I go to Europe I typically bring old devices to sell.

The problem is how can users obtain better devices which will in turn provide a higher quality experience. It's absolutely a solution. Providing an incentive and/or partnership with telecom carriers and allowing the hardware (and perhaps supporting the software) to have lasting resale value is a solution. It doesn't have to be a comparison from what immediately hurts the wallet more... Providing users with an entry barrier to obtain the hardware at (or almost) zero immediate cost is exactly why these contracts exist.