If consumers paid out of pocket for their phones then they would be more picky about upgrading and plan prices. It would also make upselling shitty plan features harder so the carriers would loose a lot of money.
Cheaper phones by definition have slimmer margins.
I find that markets that are financialized where the price of the good is obfuscated are less efficient. This is because efficient markets rely on price discovery. Healthcare is an excellent example of this.
A better distinction is not small vs. large, but appreciating assets vs. depreciating. Houses tend to increase in value, so it's usually okay to finance (pandemics and market crashes are the exceptions) because you often make a profit when it's time to sell. Phones tend to decrease in value after purchase, so financing it just means you're losing even more money at the end. Phones are also fragile so it's common to break one and still have to make payments.
And in store there's clearly the price tag right beside the demo model.
So hard to see how its obsfucated like healthcare.
Sure, let’s just ignore the disastrous adware, bloatware etc that also “subsidize” these cheaper phones, to say nothing of the actual capabilities or user experience of said devices.
I even paid straight up for my current Laptop, some $2700. The only things in my life I threw a down payment on are furniture: my bed, my kitchen chair setup, and my patio furniture.
Or is there some carrier that sells the expensive $1000+ phones on prepaid plans?
The locked phones are usually sub $250 and have some kind of finacial gimmick to get the sticker price lower. Often it will be some carrier specific model name. Just sort by price low to high and you'll find them.
ATT, Verizon, and Tmobile are selling many many expensive phones, locked, on 24 momth payment plans, literally hundreds of possible configurations of dozens of models.
The only thing I'd get excited about in a new phone is a faster CPU.
Some companies do better in this regard. For example, Samsung provides four major updates, whereas the last mid-range Motorola I owned only gave me one. By the time I receive the fourth update on my current phone, I'll probably be dealing with bigger issues, like the battery not holding a charge—or worse. I wish phones were more serviceable, but that’s just not the case. Still, at mid-range prices, I’m fine with replacing it when it’s on its last legs.
If you're inclined, though, most Android phones allow you to unlock the bootloader and tinker with the software as much as you want.