Unfortunately, that's one of the things that tends to be true of all new product offerings.

Mostly-screen multi-touch smartphones? They were only for the rich when they first launched too. As demand grows, scale enables other businesses to build cheaper options.

Given how quickly competitors copy anything vaguely new or novel coming out of Apple, it seems reasonable that someone will come up with a similar competing service before long.

If they don't, maybe it's also worth focusing some attention on those who directly try to exploit the poor and/or less knowledgeable?

You can get a decent used iPhone for under $200. I don’t fault Apple for not making an iPhone cheaper than that.

You can get a used thing for cheap - that's universally true. Can't give credit to Apple for that! They are not making it cheap by themselves.

Try to use it as daily driver. Very difficult.

An iPhone 7 is still perfectly usable, in my experience. They also should still be supported for a while. Used, they can easily be found around the $200 price point.

Can confirm, on a 7 Plus, phone's entirely fine, no problems at all. I don't expect to replace it for another two years or so, unless it breaks. Probably by the end of that it'll be feeling a little slow and the battery'll be down to 36hrs rather than lasting all weekend.

Also on a used first-gen iPad Pro 12.9". It's great. I may sell it and pick up a used 3rd-gen when the 4th gen comes out. Or may wait one past that, pick up a used 4th, and just give the 1st-gen to my kids rather than selling. Apple devices are worth the money in part because they don't go way downhill after 12-18mo, so 1) they actually hold some value, and 2) you can skip a couple upgrades and not feel like you're missing out on much.

How is it compared to other phones at the same price level though?

My daughter is on a £150 6s, the same model I’m using right now, just fine for the last 9 months.

I’m using a 6s too for my personal phone. Work phone is an 8 and I honestly can’t tell the difference

I’ve done it. It’s not.