I see. I guess I just got unlucky going with Google - it was the first entry in a new phone line after all. I went with them due to the impression they were the "official" Android manufacturer, the OS was as close to stock as possible and it got the latest security updates quickly (an annoying issue with Samsung when I had one). People said good things about the Nexus also.

Having to install LineageOS just to be able to keep using it invalidates the "first-party" argument though.