I mean, the 9 starts at £629 which is actually really cheap for the specs. The only way to get the Snapdragon 888 any cheaper is to go for something like Oppo or Xiaomi, which are not available everywhere.

And yes, their prices have been increasing over the years, but 3 years ago I paid £550 for the 5T, so now paying £629 for the 9 doesn't seem like such a huge leap.