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.
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.