I find it really off putting, how weak is their hardware, compared to a normal Android phone in a similar price range.

Weak hardware can work quite well with optimized and non-bloated software (which doesn't constantly phone home). For example, maps and Youtube work smoothly on Pinephone with SXMo. See also: https://puri.sm/posts/the-danger-of-focusing-on-specs/.

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vova_hn2 3 hours ago | parent [-]

I hope so, but I just don't understand what exactly causes such massive price difference.

Is it because this kind of phones are a very niche product so they can't benefit from the economy of scale?

Maybe android phone manufacturers can get better deals from chip manufacturers because they buy chips in large quantities?

	▲	fsflover 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Niche product, non-standard components, strict requirements of free drivers with GNU/Linux support: https://puri.sm/posts/breaking-ground/