Anecdotally, I'd happily pay what the iPhone 8 costs to get an iPhone SE-like form factor with updated hardware.

The recent generations of iPhones all look and feel too large to me. I'm like, maybe Apple should include tactical pants in their accessories:

https://techcrunch.com/2011/05/02/carry-your-ipad-2-in-the-p...

I'm an Android fan, so I'd love to know your source for $100 Android phones that can match (or even come close to) a $1000 iPhone in specs and build quality. I will order 3 this afternoon.

If it’s the product you want and the price is worth it to you then why feel a fool?

If the similar phone did what you want then you’d buy that instead. The extra $900 is either worth it for the missing feature or not.

Nobody’s a fool in this situation.

Paying $900 for it to be an iPhone over android for the average user would be foolish. The icon and ios aren’t worth the money.

Even for the average user the differences are not the icon and ios. It's the consequences of the icon and ios (better marketplace, safer phone, arguably more stable and more durable, etc)