| Great points, although I would want to add a bit of nuance from my personal experience. One thing that often gets overlooked in pricing is depreciation. Flagship models tend to keep their value quite well, whereas budget models depreciate to next to nothing. Take the iPhone X, launched 2 years ago, used it's around $570 today, versus the $999 it launched at. Meanwhile, a $300 phone tends to drop down to $100 on the 2nd hand market two years later. It just doesn't hold value very well, for one because budget phones become so much better, and secondly because there's no marketing or natural demand for 2 year old budget phones, and stores themselves discount 1st hand versions of these phones to extreme extents 2 years later. Who here is googling to get a good deal on a second-hand Moto G5? A $300 phone 2.5yo phone that's $50 used today, and $150 new. So after depreciation, the difference between a $1000 flagship and a $300 budget model isn't $700, rather it's the cost of depreciation $430 vs $200 (or $230 more). That $220 isn't nothing, but it's $9.50 a month on a 2-year basis. If you compare that to say a Netflix account, a data plan, cloud storage subscription, Spotify, or two Starbucks coffees a month... $9.50 a month extra to carry a flagship phone is pretty doable for most people. And you get a top-notch flagship phone. Not saying everyone should skip budget phones, but it's not as painful a financial decision as it may seem. |
To get the best money for a second hand phone, you also need a good case (which is another sunken cost).
It can make sense, but pay attention to to other costs, because they add up.
I also do what the GP does: buy mid-range Android phones (Nokia at present, used to buy Moto), and give them to family and friends after a few years.
On topic: Nokia phones have a phone jack and have Android One (2 years version update, 3 years security, plus many more years of secure browsing).