I have never understood the reason for this existing. As you pointed out, you can do exacly the same with a phone/tablet and an adapter for the controller, which I do. Yes you dont get the haptic feedback however that is not necessary to play games and I can use bluetooth headsets with my phone and tablet 🤷‍♂️

If this was a standalone device like the psp with even just enough memory for 1 or 2 games then ok, but I feel its an over priced attempt at fixing a problem that doesnt exist.