Is there any actual benefit for so much RAM in a phone? Outside of a higher number for marketing and increasing the price? And does this also increase power consumption or is there any benefit to more RAM that counteracts that?

Personally i am still waiting for phones to become proper desktop replacements, in which case i’d maybe see more use in this. They already have more than enough performance for the average user, since 9/10 people probably just browse the web and do some general office work.

Add to that requirements for longer software support. At least for security patches.

That has to be the biggest factor by far. I got my pixel 6a for around 300€ total with a mobile plan (free calls, sms and a small amount of data)

Does everything I and realistically the vast majority of people need it for. And you can get perfectly usable phones for even less.

There is no way apple can beat that value, even if their update policy and thus longevity is one of the few things I envy.

Also many benefits of the iphone imo rely on being invested in their ecosystem.