Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sad reflection of the realities of manufacturing, I suspect. They won’t ever achieve the kind of scale you’d need to make it cheaper. IMO it is what it is. Especially when you consider the hardware kill switches etc this is a niche product that the right small audience will pay $1.2k for.
Two generations of pinephone disagree. I think the price is due to labor costs for software.
Mostly, but not only. There's also user support, and PinePhones are much cheaper to build.