"Multi-year" is technically correct but a little rosy: Google cuts off software updates including security updates after 3 years, by which time one can also expect the hard-to-replace battery to be degraded, and increased probability of screen damage. Phones aren't really designed to be durable objects.

That said, I do appreciate Google's "a" variant of their recent phones for the emphasis on practicality and usability (headphone jack, battery capacity), and the $349 price tag doesn't seem extravagant for what you're getting. Mostly, I just wish they came in a smaller size.

2+ years is by definition multi-year.

At 350$, if you use it for 3 years (which is the minimum number of years it gets updates for), you would basically be paying more for your Netflix subscription than for your phone. And I'd wager most people use their phone much more than they do their Netflix.

Okay, so ignoring the fact that the iPhone SE exists, do the math even on the shorter lifetime: that's between $2-4 per week. That's not nothing but I would not think it precludes a “budget” label, especially given how much value people get out of their phones.

> There’s a fascinating economics lesson in how many people are concerned by the cost of a phone but never mention the service plans which almost always cost more.

This is the reason why "free phone" plans are so popular. IMO, it's always lower TCO to unbundle these "deals", but so many people only care about their maximum monthly cost.

Yes – it's just interesting to see how effective it is, even when people who are trying to be rational are explicitly thinking about costs.

Service plans have really gotten cheap over time. Google Fi is like 24 bucks a month, and they're not even the cheap plan anymore.

That kind of proves the point though even at 24 a month if you have the phone for 2 years then the plan was $576 while the phone was only 350. The phone would come out to $14 a month. Do you value your phone as worth less to you than Netflix?

the 350 isn't factoring in the costs of calls/data etc.

it depends on how long you want to keep the phone for. I bought my phone in 2017 ago for £400 and I pay £8 a month to a carrier to get an allowance of data + calls every month (not a contract, I'm free to cancel any time) so it's worked out at about £18 a month if you amortise the initial outlay.

obviously contracts are more expensive, and can sometimes, albeit rarely, be cheaper, you just need to do the maths.

the bigger advantage to buying a phone outright is you're free to switch network/carrier as the phones are unlocked, at least in the UK anyway.

I mean sure it's not factoring in cost of calls data but that's not specific to a phone so if you're comparing phone prices (and not plan prices) then the data and calls are irrelevant to the conversation