And I said, you are implying that there are only two phones (that I’m aware of at least) can be considered high end. They are the only two to meet your standards. I don’t really think either of those make for a high end phone anyway as they are features but that doesn’t mean the specs are better. A 5+ inch screen can still be crappy. Removable battery and expandable memory aren’t really better or worse in and of themselves.
It seems that Android manufacturers are making a move away from your other two features as well. Neither of the two flagship Android phones out meet your screen size requirement and the One X fails on all 3 fronts. The latest Nexus device fails on screen size and removable storage.
In any case, I don’t think you can extrapolate the requirement of any of those to the public at large. I don’t have small phones, but my GNex is the absolute max I can effectively handle one handed and with so much action at the top left of the screen that is pretty important. I still think the 4.3 inch size is about ideal. I’ve never come close to the 32GB I have of storage either. I’m using about 9GB right now. That includes some sizeable Spotify playlists downloaded.
Really, specs alone are a poor judge. Using a smartphone is a total experience question. Spec porn doesn’t alone improve the experience. My phone is now old news, but I can’t see exchanging it for anything else on the market. Definitely not for a bigger screen or expandable memory.
The bottom line is that Mr. Edd’s list of minimal specs to be considered “high-end” is nothing more or less than his personal preferences, probably hand-picked to exclude the iPhone, dressed up as if they were an objective standard. His “standards” have nothing to do with how effectively a phone performs any task, let alone with what users consider important when voting with their dollars.
He lists a removable battery as a must, but nothing about the life of that battery; screen size, but not screen resolution, brightness or saturation; removable storage, but nothing about built-in storage or access speeds; nothing at all about processor, RAM, sound quality, voice call quality, network speed, availability of apps, OS stability, or any of dozens of things far more important to the experience and usability of a device.