A smartphone or TV do cost $200, but that's not what makes poor people poor. Poor people are kept in poverty from sudden costs they are unable to cope with which accrue interest. Got to fix your car to get to work? Pay $800 and don't eat for a month, or pay $1200 because you need a loan and have shitty interest. Gotta see a doctor? Can't, because the consultation alone will cost $300, so you tough it out until it become unmaintaible and you get a hospital bill for $5000. Got a leaky pipe? Don't have the time to fix it because you work 12 hours a day because you have no alternative, so now your house get a humidity problem and you can't realistically do anything about it.

A phone is peanuts in comparison to the things that really matter.