But the whole point of this project is to appeal to the mass market, and give smartphones a ten-year life cycle. They're explicitly aiming at a much wider userbase than hackers alone.
You run a newer build of Lineage or CarbonRom or whatever on an old phone and it will most likely run like crap (current LineageOS on an old Sony Xperia Z 1st gen for example, is a terrible experience).
But that phone still has a ton of power. It's more than capable of being better than an early 2000s laptop. If you can stick Linux on it, it can be an embedded device. Get Wayland working and you get a little screen you can use for projects.
This has the potential to turn a lot of obsolete phones into powerful little hobby machines.
Yes, we are some of the people who line up for new stuff.
Yes, we are also some of the people who keep old stuff running.