Many countries prefer the freedom of pre-pay/post-pay than being bound by contracts though.

Not everyone has the US culture of running their life on credit.

Because when life changes, it isn't only their phone they lose.

The only single time I had a contract, because it was the only way to get a Nokia N70, I learnt never to do another one ever again.

Are you sure it is your whole country or it's you?

I mostly buy my phones outright too, but I am under no impression that everybody else does it as well.

	▲	grishka 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		In my country, for example, buying phones from carriers as part of your plan just isn't a thing. As in, you couldn't do it even if you wanted to. Same for postpaid plans and contracts. As a result, quite a lot of people use the "I can't believe they could make and sell an entire phone at this price" Xiaomi and similar phones.
	▲	pjmlp 35 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		The planet is full of such countries, it isn't only me.