I am really suprised that the cost of a Brownie camera is $1.25 (roughly $34 in today’s dollars), when contrast to todays ubiquitous equivalent which is the phone camera. Equivalent in the sense of enabling folks to take photos ad nauseum.
It's a box with two tiny mirrors and one of the simplest aperture/shutter mechanism, very low tech, even for the time. They made money on the film and development/prints rather than the camera itself
The Box Brownie I had as a kid took 620 roll film which had a capacity of only 12 photos. Both the film and developing were very expensive. One only took photos on special occasions.
You can get an equivalent of enabling folks to take (only) photos ad nauseum at $34 also today.
Really? Can you share a link? I would be interested in looking at these further.
Kodak M35 or the slightly updated M38 model come first to mind.
I assume you mean a film camera. But you can get a cheap digital camera (equal to a phone camera of a few years ago) for even cheaper. There isn't really a market for such low end cameras given nearly everyone has phones. But maybe as a toy for a small child too young for a phone or something.