Every phone is too expensive to you. Your priorities are elsewhere.

I work 60 hours a week as a machinist, which means I have a ton of downtime. I spend all that downtime on my phone, watching videos, browsing the internet, or whatever else. I want a great phone and don't mind paying for it. $1,000 over the course of a year or two is nothing compared to the help the phone will provide in passing the time.

In saying that, I don't even own an iPhone. I have a Samsung Galaxy and won't be upgrading because the changes from my current phone (S8) to the latest are so small, that I can't justify $1k. I'll just pay to have the battery replaced.