Cost effective engineering

Sometimes when I do think about things, I wondered why some brands are so expensive and some are cheap. Maybe its the way it was manufactured and/or maybe, its due to the exchange rate. Or maybe, its just the local distributors prerogative.

Anyway, I just opened up a Panasonic Phone for some "itchy finger" reasons to see if it can be repaired or not. And I was surprised at how it was made. Compared to a Toshiba phone, it had less screws and metal. But sometimes I wonder, whatever happened to the trend of smart designs where it uses minimal screws so prevalent in the last decade?

This is a Panasonic Digital phone

Everything is contained into one small circuit board and nothing more

Even the handset doesn't use much screws.
Just plastics snapping into place.