I think the balance is just opposite in electronic devices.
As you mention, you can assemble a bike with all parts at roughly the same costs without that much of a trade-off. The example I was giving is more of the exception of putting a very performant/specific core part into a meh setup.
As I see it, in electronic devices it’s more common to have a very basic structure with super cheap commodity components, except that one corepiece that pushes the whole appliance’s capabilities far ahead. For my washing machine, the metal frame, belts and motors are cheap run of the mill parts that might not have changed for decades, and only the controller is custom designed to adapt to modern use. Or looking at rice cookers, a tremendous portion of the value would go into the pan and the controller, and the rest of the housing and heating structure is pure commodity. As a caveat, that might not be the case for high end appliances, where perhaps every component could be high quality, but I’m too cheap to confirm that.
As you mention, you can assemble a bike with all parts at roughly the same costs without that much of a trade-off. The example I was giving is more of the exception of putting a very performant/specific core part into a meh setup.
As I see it, in electronic devices it’s more common to have a very basic structure with super cheap commodity components, except that one corepiece that pushes the whole appliance’s capabilities far ahead. For my washing machine, the metal frame, belts and motors are cheap run of the mill parts that might not have changed for decades, and only the controller is custom designed to adapt to modern use. Or looking at rice cookers, a tremendous portion of the value would go into the pan and the controller, and the rest of the housing and heating structure is pure commodity. As a caveat, that might not be the case for high end appliances, where perhaps every component could be high quality, but I’m too cheap to confirm that.