Google's phones are a minor bit player in the market. They have an estimated 4% of US market share. OnePlus was kicking their butts until OnePlus decided to destroy their entire value prop and also laid off their much beloved software team.

But if you want a mid priced phone, go ahead and buy one. A CMF 2 pro has 6 years of security updates, it costs $279.

> 80% of them have never made a video intentionally.

I find that hard to believe. Nearly everyone I know uses their phone cameras heavily. Maybe the stat is true in some strange sense, but 80% of high end premium phone buyers? People paying an extra $200 just for a telephoto lens are never using the camera? The high end is all about camera performance.

> I had a cemetery of working phones and broken laptops all through past decades. I used laptops for longer than 3 years but I also didn't put them through the pressure a student would and could usually replace parts.

I have everything from a Motorola Q9m to an unreleased Windows Mobile 7 (not phone 7!) to an army of LG, Motorola, and Nexus devices.

Phone hardware is generally shite. Or in the case of my OnePlus, their updates added so much of their own shit to a once pure OS, that I could barely use the phone anymore due to running out of RAM. Great job OnePlus, great job.

> Or in the case of my OnePlus, their updates added so much of their own shit to a once pure OS

Same situation on preinstalled laptops and Android. You are complaining about Google in relation to Microsoft.

Android One was a correction to how their system should work and it wouldn't help their goals to sell $100 phones that are secure, all an older adult would typically want, not particularly engaging for marketers, competing with their flagship phones for people who will pay and accept any quality in pointless toys.

Even their own A series has been a problem for them since it covers what any reasonable person would want (in a flagship eliminating way). So let's restrict the charging bellow the lowest industry standards, etc.