I would think that all major service providers do this with all common phones. I agree that the iPhone's quality is preferred. In the OP's article, it's not clear to me if it appropriately addresses the title. For example, the Self Service Repair program was in the United States at launch in 2021, but Apple expanded the program to other countries during 2022. I think many people are aware it's a limited service. Regarding the market share among poor people, the statistics are much higher than that: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/iphone-market-share-by-country