And didn't require a PhD in UART to get an OS running on it. Seriously, who the hell thought the process described in that blog makes any kind of practical sense at all.

I mean the thing has two USB ports, TWO! And you can't use either, hahaha!

I bought a $9 C.H.I.P computer many years back which had pretty decent specs. They might have been too cheap though, because they sadly went out of business.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHIP_(computer)

The cheap ARM boards you see typically have some economic reason that involve a deal for millions of SoCs falling through at the last minute and the SoC manufacturer selling them off at below cost just to get anything back from the run.

The BCM2835 was destined for a cheap set top box but for reasons not known publicly the manufacturer of that box didn't take those chips.

Pi Zero didn't have any wireless connectivity. Pi Zero W was $10 (now $15).

It's subsidized. Try getting them at $5 in volume.