I keep my phone until the security updates stop. I buy top of the line phones because cheaper one suck. I tried a cheap phone and it used to lock up all the time. These phones are crappier than my obsolete top of the line phone. There has got to be a middle ground between 1K flagship phones and cheap sub-$200 phones, but I swear I can't find it.

I just keep buying phones with way more features than I desire just so that having too many apps open at once or going to the wrong Javascript laden web page doesn't slow my phone to a crawl. I just tell myself that at least I only replace my phone every 5 to 7 years. If it wasn't for work, I'd keep them longer, but the OS has to be patched for work stuff to be on it.

> There has got to be a middle ground between 1K flagship phones and cheap sub-$200 phones, but I swear I can't find it.

The Pixel phones are precisely that, and they are the only phones supported by Graphene for now. The a-series is a particularly good value and I am posting from one.

> If it wasn't for work, I'd keep them longer

I think if work demands a better phone, then work should be buying you a better phone.

Moto G Power is the cheap phone that hasn't sucked for years. I've bought many been happy. The one time I tried a Samsung, it was a mistake.

but they bumped up prices significantly a few months ago due to chip prices or tarrifs or who knows what, it's not so cheap anymore.

>There has got to be a middle ground between 1K flagship phones and cheap sub-$200 phones, but I swear I can't find it.

In my experience this is literally the iphone SE. Look at the chipset, its no slouch.