Any Linux phone is going to be expensive vs. an Android phone for what you're going to get given the low unit volumes. For some, privacy is worth a premium. For others, the ability to just run Linux will be.

That said, I'm probably going to go for the PinePhone as I just don't see the value add of the Librem. $2k is nuts for the dubious value of assembling a device in the U.S. (both because of our current <cough> issues and the fact that the chips, the things you need to be most worried about being compromised, would still be produced elsewhere... so you're paying a lot of money for a placebo) I think the Pine approach makes more sense cost/benefit-wise: just get a Linux phone version 1 built, worry about adding the sun and the moon later. But I can understand that there are those who look at the Pine as being too low-end feature-wise and are willing to pay up for the Librem.