Serious case of sticker shock here. My current Android phone was free from the provider in exchange for buying around 3 months of service in advance. It is no speed demon but certainly does all of your average phone stuff just fine.
I absolutely refuse to pay for a phone; call me old-school, but I am still stuck in the memory of the days when they came 'free' with service contracts. Me? I will happily take a slightly outdated phone with a new provider/contract where I don't pay anything on top of the expected monthly fee. I have 8 months left on my iPhone13 mini (128GB) w/VZW and will happily change to one of the other Big Threes to make it happ…
But sure, the phone was "free".
$2,880 for a Verizon plan with a "free" phone (3 year commitment after all), $720 for three years of my current Mint plan. I could spend $2k on a phone over those three years and I'd still have spent less money.