If you are looking for a brand-new phone in the solidly mid-range for around $250, you can look at pocophone or OnePlus for smaller but still well-known companies making excellent phones. These phones compete in pretty much every way with the more expensive offerings by google or samsung, and have no vendor bloatware.

OnePlus's latest models have become a bit pricier, going on $450, but you can still buy the oneplus 6 straight from them for a good price.

I have xiaomi m1a1 and i think it's well made. The production quality doesnt seem to be issue nowdays.

The best phone I ever owned was a Moto G. Cost me about $200. I currently use a Nokia 6.1. Cost me about $250 a year ago, and regularly gets updates.