The problem here is we are arguing each and every part of the puzzle as if it were the only reason... when there's a dozen different pieces that add up to
"No way in hell unless we break the corporations up like we did with IT&T".First off... let's address the assertion that these devices are absurdly expensive... they are not. Sure, other manufacturers turn out
similar products at a much cheaper price... AFTER the bleeding edge manufacturers do all the hard R&D work, and take all the market risk. My favored BLU phones are a prime example. But I am under no delusion that my personal phone, which is still BLU's flagship model, is in any way comparable to a flagship iPwn. It is just what I consider to be reasonable value for dollar in a device I carry in my pocket.
If you had told teenage me that I would be able to get the tech inside a iPwn for the equivalent of $600 then, I'd have beaten you with a 2x4 until you took me to that future.
So now we know that a similar product can be made so cheaply... we know how Apple does it too. By buying exactly as much as is needed to do a production run, putting it all into that production run, and not getting into the very expensive and money-losing side business of parts brokerage. This not only makes per-unit cost much less, it means they can maintain pre-release security much more completely, and by using lots of custom silicon, they have all their suppliers tied up in NDA for the foreseeable future. It's a win-win-win trifecta for them... but the cost is... warranty is done on an exchange basis rather than repair.
You know the old saw aboot "Good, Fast, or Cheap; pick any two." Well, a similar derivative applies here: "Bleeding edge, Miniaturized, Repairable, or Cheap; pick any two, maybe three". Apple makes bleeding edge, miniaturized and (for the tech involved) cheap products. Then they add a lot of hand-holding, personal service and yes, a certain level of customer dick-suckery, along with an upscale pricetag and image; all of which cost money to maintain.
They do so at the demand of their biggest customers, the American public... who in general don't give a flying fig aboot repairability; they just want the new shiny, and the pre-purchase hummer, and for it to work until something shinier comes along. The real enthusiasts want the post-purchase hummer too, like bd139 pays extra for.
Your Keysight scope is somewhat repairable... a lot of off-the-shelf components... but it is much more expensive than your Apple product, it is definitely not at all miniaturized even by today's grossest standards, and it is not bleeding edge, aside from a handful of products which literally start at half a million dollars a pop. The difference here is the market; hardly even the same ballfield as the market Apple sells in.
mnem