Maybe yes, not that my phone's expensive (Android LG G8 that I got as a 'free' upgrade on my plan about 3 years ago), but my desktop PC was put together from parts discarded from other PCs. Only new parts were case, PSU, kb, mouse.<p>Where the story changes is that I only have one phone, but I have my main desktop, a mini tablet/pc, and laptop in addition to my work laptop.<p><i>An interesting observation was that if I forget my phone at home, I can carry on with a day out. OTOH, if I forget to bring my laptop somewhere I'm going and I don't know how long I'll be away from home (even if returning same day) I notice that I develop some anxiety after a number of hours unless I'm having too much fun to notice. I have a Surface Go just to carry around and mostly not use--another reason is sometimes a phone is just too annoying to do any browsing with all the mobile optimized sites.</i>
Good question, had not thought about it. Yes it is. Although not more expensive than my total personal computing as I have multiple (too many) laptops.<p>-[Surface laptop 3 - 13" Intel -Windows]
-[Surface laptop 3 - AMD 15" - Ubuntu, daily driver]
-[Surface Pro X - ARM - 13"? ARM Dev]
-[Apple Macbook - Intel - 13" Mac OS]
-[ASUS ROG - Intel - 15" Gaming]
No. My personal computer costs a little more than double my phone cost. Both are relatively new at this point.<p>You should also include as a datapoint how long they keep their devices.<p>I tend to keep the same personal computer for several years, but the longest I have kept a phone is 3 years.<p>Heck, previously, I went through 4 smartphones all while using the same laptop.
That is a very interesting and thought provoking question. In my case, if I just count my phone and day-to-day computer, not close. Computer wins hands down on the contest to empty my bank account. But then I buy phones and keep them till they die (after replacing the battery several times).
No. Laptop (M1 Max Macbook Pro) is roughly 20x more than the phone (Motorola G30).<p>These days I just use my phone for Spotify, Reddit, HN and Messaging, and the occasional event/ticket app so a long battery life is about the only thing I care about, and the G30 has nice 5000mAh.
No. Moto G6 Play £130 new in 2018. Laptop unsurprisingly many times that.<p>To me a better phone is for the "experience". Faster laptop is getting stuff done.