I do think that it is a bit snobbish to dismiss the buyers of less-expensive DSLRs as being swayed only by advertising and fast sales talk, and to consider less-expensive cameras as an unimportant part of the overall camera market. There are buyers out there who are not satisfied by the fully automatic phone cameras but who can't afford or don't see the need for buying top-of-the-line "pro" grade cameras (D5, 1DXII, D850, A9, A7R3, or medium format). Maybe paying off student loans, saving for the children's education, saving for retirement, helping a financially needy family member, setting aside money for anticipated house repairs or car, taking a college course, going on a trip, and so on are better uses for money at the time for a lot of hobbyist photographers. The top of the line gear gives the last 5% of quality or permits some photos unobtainable with the usual 24 to 135mm equivalent range of mass market lenses (eg, night action photos with 400mm f/2.8 lens and top-of-line full frame camera). However, there's a heck of a lot of good photography that can be done with a basic APS-C DSLR and a cheap normal range zoom.