Looking for a new phone... are "cheaper" phones actually bad ?

Hello all,

I'm still using my very first smartphone, an HTC Desire S bought in 2012. I'm the kind of person who buys a new phone every 5 years or so, unlike cough apple fanboys cough . I still love it, the battery is still epic, the small size is lovely (3.7"), light OS, solid...

Anyways, i gotta move on because more and more apps aren't supporting my OS version (2.3 ).

I'm planning on sticking to HTC because reasons. I found 3 phones which are compact (4.5", i'm not interested in anything bigger) :
HTC One mini 2 = M5 (expensive)
HTC Desire 320 (cheap)
HTC Desire 310 (cheap)

All these 3 phones seem to have more or less the same CPU and RAM. They all have a GPS, two cameras, okay basic stuffs all smartphones have, and i'm not even picky about these things. My interest are : calls/sms, games, basic photos, utility apps, working GPS, and that the OS doesn't f#king crash, or the battery gets lame after a year.
The M5 has a much better camera, but aside from that I can't see why would i be interested in the M5 while I'd probably be satisfied with either of the two cheap ones. Unless i'm missing something ?

So basically, why are cheap phones cheap ? Are they less reliable on the long term (software or hardware) ? Please help me decide .
Thanks !
Cheers

(bonus : any hint about the Samsung Galaxy J1, or the Ace 4 ? both are cheap compact recent phones)

— modified on Jun 28, 2016, 10:58:38 PM

What do you mean by "decent display" ?

Thanks !

The M5 has HD720, while the two cheap ones have FWVGA.
I don't think the display matters to me, my current phone is WVGA and i'm quite satisfied with it. I don't intend to watch movies/videos on it.

So far i'm tempted to head for the cheap phones, it's not a matter of budget but i just can't find out a valid reason for me to buy the M5 over the cheap ones.

Thanks !

up ^