"there is a virtually identical "non-smart" one for the same price"
Jolly good show! Common sense prevails after all? Why on earth would you want your fryer to talk to your phone? Although it's not a deep fryer (extremely dangerous) it must still pose some hazard, so you should be watching it. Furthermore, according to Business Insider, the "smart" features "aren't as useful as they could be".
I strongly suspect that, apart from the "digital = good, analog = legacy" angle, app control works out cheaper to manufacture than having physical controls on the appliance, which is largely why items like DVD players have progressively dropped front panel controls in favour of "remote only". The most extreme example of such cost cutting is $15,000 dollar oscilloscopes with minimal unergonomic multi-function front panel controls but touch screen control. That's right, spend fifteen grand on it then cover the information screen with finger marks and scratches.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
