What makes some cell phones worth ten times others?

I won't try to justify the cost of the phone however many people ues their phone has their mobile office.
They receive email. They store 1000's of documents.they use the calendar, they operate their desktop computer remotely. They order supplies. They track supplies and shipments.
Sure they do basic things like text and make calls, but with all the apps available the phones are a lot more functional/necessary than you think.
The average retired person does not need and cannot conceive of the need for a 256GB phone.

I like my $39.00 Android phone and it does everything I need it to do.
It runs out of memory if you put to many apps on it (some won't transfer to the external card) and it doesn't have call by WiFi if there is no service. There may be other things but kids tell me they only spend $45.00 a month for the phone and that just gets added to there monthly bill. No phone can be worth that much.

No matter the reason or excuse for buying one. Walking around waving $1000 worth of bling is asking for trouble.
How many people have you seen walking and texting without a clues of who's around them.

Thanks to all. About what I figured, but thought I might be missing out on something.

I know exactly what makes it worth so much more.
HYPE to the young people who do not know any better and espouse form over function
It is all about the brand name not the functionality

I have Boost Mobile (Sprint) and a Kyocera Android phone (35 bucks)with a 30 dollar per month charge, unlimited text, unlimited calls and 4 gigs of data and I'm pretty happy. The Kyocera is IP54 rated so you can get it underwater (for 30 minutes), no issue. Getting an ordinary phone wet is usually the end.

being a senior citizen, I don't need (or want) the latest and greatest, heck, I cannot even figure out half what this phone will do....lol

TomG2 wrote:
I buy sub-$100 Android phones to use on Verizon prepaid. Current phone has Android 7.X, Fingerprint recognition, runs YouTube videos without a stutter, two cameras, 16GB internal storage, etc. What will another $500 get me? I usually "upgrade" a couple of times a year. What am i missing?

I bought a $7 Android phone at Walmart, so I could ask the question what makes the new iPhone 100 times better than my phone? I'm sure it's better, but not 100 times. My phone can make phone calls, it can send text messages, it can surf the Internet, it can take photos (front and rear), it can track my location on GPS. As I said, I'm sure it's better, but I'm not believing it's 100 times better. And I could easily afford the iPhone, but I won't buy it. Maybe that's why I could easily afford it.

wildtoad wrote:
Why do ( or did ) people trade their perfectly good car in for a new shiny one every couple of years? Why does my wife have over 200 pairs of shoes (that I know about)? Because it makes them feel better about themselves and it makes them happy. Broke but happy..

So true. Choosing the right carrier is also very important. For us, since 1996 here in Florida has been Verizon. We have not loss connection throughout all those hurricanes.

TomG2 wrote:
What will another $500 get me? I usually "upgrade" a couple of times a year. What am i missing?

It will get you a lighter wallet.

But you already are doing that by "upgrading" when that is totally not necessary.

My current Android phone is about 3 years old and I fully expect it to last at least another two. It is still doing everything I want or need just fine.

For the same reason that people trade a perfectly good 2 year old motothome with 6,000 miles on it in for a new one