How can you determine it is cheap when Google is anticompetitively subsidizing the cost with advertising and data collection? You could be getting hosed and never know it.
Because android itself is free but I'm not seeing a lot of companies or you taking the time and effort to make an ad free Android phone for the same price or cheaper.
A competitor can’t enter the market to compete on price because Google subsidizes their product with ads. Thats the very picture of predatory, anticompetitive behavior. You can’t know what the market would be if Android were forced to compete fairly.
That was your decision. There are other options.
And while you mind, billions are really happy to have a very secure and relativity cheap phone.