Right now polymer framed handguns are selling for less than $300. over to CDNN. The manufacturers still make a profit off of that.
https://www.cdnnsports.com/firearms.html
Now some of this is the slump in the gun market right now and the post panic buying let down which the industry still isn't out of. But the other piece of it is that polymer as a material in gun manufacture is no longer a guarantee of extensive profits.
So many polymer framed guns are being produced presently, many of them very good guns, that the rate of return on investment (how much you get back for each dollar invested) has been shrinking. This return is what fuels competition and innovation to begin with it. Glock was able to dominate the market for over two decades, but it's share of that market has been declining the last decade as others adapted and produced comparable products at a lower price or with more features. This has forced Glock to upgrade to compete and their profit margin to fall.
Polymer framed guns are mostly steel. It's steel that comprises the critical internal working parts, slide, barrel, structure of the frame, etc. The real innovation was the use of new materials and production processes that made manufacturer less expensive in time and capital investment. Polymer framed guns are the new norm. They dominate military and law enforcement and will for the foreseeable future.
They also dominate self defense use by the non-military population.
But this leaves us with a question. Why revolvers? Why are they still made?
It's because the majority of handgun use in the U.S. and some other places is not for self-defense. It's for sport shooting. For this reason steel and alloy framed guns will be around for the remainder of this century (barring an unforeseen collapse in the industry).
Is a Beretta 92 a worse gun for home defense than a Glock 17? No it's not. So it will be around.
tipoc