I bought a Pixel 3, which will receive 3 years of feature and security updates directly from Google. Previously I had a Pixel 1, which only received 2 years of updates, although it'll continue to receive security updates for another year. I'd prefer it if they provided support for a bit longer than that, but it's still better than what many other vendors are pushing.

The Pixel 3 is a big improvement over every other Android experience I've had, and I've been in the ecosystem since the Nexus One. It's the first Android phone I've used which actually feels like a premium phone, which is what I'd expect, considering its hefty price tag. Its camera has been called the top of the line by many reviewers. Heck, right now there's a post in the HN front page about the Pixel 3's camera [0].

Stock Android is still kinda buggy and rough around the edges in a few places, but it has definitely been improving. I've found the latest version to be much more stable and reliable, at least during the short time I've had it.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18370130

And keep in mind that sales are spread across that 2 year lifecycle - plenty of people buying the phone one year after its out, and then getting only another year of updates.

This is what happened to me when I bought a Nexus 5, and it was the final straw. I bought a cheap second hand iPhone 6S, and havn't looked back. I do miss the notification LED though, and the better clock/alarm functionality on Android.

Just ask around what great experience it is to use new os/apps on a 5 year old phone.

I think this issue is likely to be diminished as the performance difference's not been improving that much lately (X and XS having similar CPU performance) - we have come to a point of smartphone evolution where yearly additions to a performance will not be the reason to upgrade -> therefore I don't expect new iOS versions slowing devices significantly.

That's what I am thinking too.

Use a postmarket Lineage OS?