Originally Posted by Davy_Duke:
“...why are most internet radios in the region of £79-£150?”
(1) volume of production and the resulting economies of production
A tablet is a multi-use device compared to an internet radio which is focused on a specific task. Naturally then the market for tablets is much larger and so the manufacturing scale is bigger too. That then generates economies of scale that reduce both hardware and labour costs for the manufacturer.
(2) Standing on the shoulder of giants
Your tablet's O/S is Android. This is the most open of any of the mobile operating systems; more so than Apple's IoS and MIcrosoft, so it's a natural choice as an 'off the shelf' ready-to-go O/S. In other words, the tablet manufacturer has little-to-no-involvement in developing an O/S for their product and hence the production costs are lower.
Compare and contrast this situation to the requirements to produce specialised software to run a dedicated device. Someone has to be responsible for writing and maintaining the code. That's a far larger and more costly commitment, and it's a cost that has to be spread between a much smaller number of units sold (see point 1) and so it is reflected in a higher end price.
(3) Ongoing support (or the lack of it)
If a feature on an internet radio stops working (and presuming that the service it runs from is still operating) then your complaint goes straight to the radio manufacturer. There's a cost associated with dealing with those kind of issues whether reactively or pro-actively.
But who do you complain to if the radio player app on your tablet stops working? It's not the tablet maker, they only made the hardware so the O/S isn't their concern. It's not necessarily the O/S producer either (and good luck trying the get Android or any of the O/S manufacturers to respond to you on an individual basis) as they might be hosting an app developed by a third party company. So maybe it's the 3rd party app developer, but they could equally reply that (a) it's a change in the O/S that caused a problem, or (b) the service provider has changed something, or (c) it's a free app and they'll get around to making a new version when they can. However you look at it the tablet manufacturer doesn't have to provide ongoing support and so the costs associated with that are taken out of the pricing equation.
(4) Hardware differences
The internet radio is (generally) a bespoke device which includes elements such as an amplifier, speaker(s), radio receivers etc and certain elements that may be subject to additional regulation and the costs associated with that.
Generic tablets can often be found rebranded and the same product sold under different names in various countries around the globe by virtue of the universality of their application.
The hardware differences also have implications for the import duty applied at the port of entry. It appears that FM/AM radios are subject to 14%. DAB radios 9%, and as best as I can see without spending too much time on it internet radios attract a tariff of 3.7%. The tariff rate on tablets is 0%.
(5) Routes to market
I don't believe it's unreasonable to suggest that with the advent of Ebay and Amazon it's now easier than ever for someone in an office or bedroom to set up as a reseller and so bypass much of the conventional chain between manufacturer and end customer that add costs to product. Many would view that as overwhelmingly positive, however it's easy to forget that these pop-up sellers can disappear just as quickly as they appeared once a product has either sold through or starts to exhibit some major flaws. Where does that leave the consumer? This applies just as much to sellers of cheaper Internet Radios as it does tablets.
Established and reputable brands have a duty of care to their customer base whether it is the reseller or the end consumer if they want to maintain the brand reputation and continue doing business. There's a cost associated with doing so. Pop-up resellers are less concerned about this.
Conclusion
While your particular tablet might have cost £25, you could just as easily have bought an ASUS, Google, Samsung, Lenovo or other branded 7" tablet and spent anything from £150 to £250 for what appears to be the same functionality. The comparison in price then wouldn't have been so stark. Beyond that though there are sufficient differences in the target markets that have wide-ranging implications for manufacturing costs and the general cost of sales to provide a reasonable explanation for the price differences.