Here in Non-USA-istan (aka the rest of the world), most Chinese midrange phones hold their own for years and are not frowned upon by the local population for being "poor people phones".

Got my Xiaomi Redmi Note 11T near its launch date for a third of the cost of an iPhone and I don't regret it at all. Battery life is still exceptional (a full day and change with heavy YouTube and ~~Reddit~~ Lemmy usage), I can pretty much play anything I throw the phone at (I can emulate anything up to Dreamcast/Naomi without a hitch, PS2/GameCube/Wii with some caveats, any handheld device up to 3DS/Vita almost flawlessly), and the camera does a decent job capturing good photos and video at up to 4K@30fps. I'm not filming a freaking documental with the device, but I can catch vacation photos with printing quality and that's enough for me.