I have the same response. In mind a dumb phone is sub $100. More feels like virtue signaling some tech stoicism.

For that money and less you can get an older smartphone and strip it down yourself if you are inclined.

Or use accessibility settings (on iOS) to make it much less appealing to stare at.

I just thought the same thing. Most of them cost double what my refurbished iPhone cost. To be fair there is a category for fairly cheap ones too: https://slowerliving.club/phones/?category=Cheap+entry+point...

But why would someone pay $675 to $1,235 plus $18/mo membership for a locked down iPhone without browser and apps - surely there is a way to lock them down yourself if you really want to.