s8 64gb costs $700, just like the i8 64gb
it's not only about the price. it's the lack of features and options.
great camera, check. good build quality, check. fast performance, check. waterproofing, check. abundance of apps, check. long software support, check. for most people, that should just be fine.
but no headphone jack, fuck you, apple, simply fuck you and your greedy policy about lightning licensing. no expendable storage, and storage options are disgustingly expensive (256gb costs $850 - $150 for a bigger storage, wtf). no file manager, no way to _just connect your phone and copy some files on it. no way to use your bluetooth for file transfer. no apt-x or apt-x hd, which became the industry standard for good quality audio transfer via bluetooth. limited nfc functions. no vr headset support. shitty carplay. no customizations, boring user interface. can't even set a custom ringtone without itunes. oh, and itunes has been around for ages without any major improvement, and it's been bad since the beginning. my brother's 6s battery lasts for about 3-4 hours in standby when it's below 0 celsius. and those huge bezels, especially on the 'plus' models are so 2014... apple lost their advantage in design, too: iphone 6 was their last trend setter design, even iphone x's bezel-less formula was used by xiaomi, lg and samsung before apple.
tl;dr: there's no reason to buy an iphone anymore, besides it's an iphone. for some, that's enough. i never was a loyal customer to any brand (besides maybe ibanez, my go-to guitar brand), so that apple logo means nothing to me. on the other hand, the expensive product with plenty of limitations... i'm fine with a similarly limited, other product for 1/4 or half the price of an iphone which i'll also replace in 2 years anyway.