I’ve got an 8 year old original gen iPhone SE that’s just about holding on still and I’m keeping it because I hate how big phones have become since (I already hated the size increase of the 6 and that’s why I got the SE instead)
For your first point I’ve owned a 3g, a 5s and my current SE and I’ve never heard about paying for OS updates so idk where you got that idea from but my phone is still getting free updates 8 years after release even if they aren’t supporting upgrading to newer OS versions they’re still patching IOS 15. Also do you think that iPhones are the only phone models with a limited life expectancy? Multiple generations of Android phones have been completely dropped in the life span of my single phone, Samsung is apparently the best android phone lifespan wise and apparently they drop support after 5 years.
I’m saving up for my next phone at the moment though and I’m defintely switching from apple over to an android phone but I’ve found that I can get a gaming phone for half the price of a mainstream device with specs that blow the competitors out of the water (even beating the iphone 15 pro max’s camera quality) but I wouldn’t be switching if my phone wasn’t on the verge of death.