Zoom is what you need. I have it at 150% on my 24 inch screen. The default size is ok for my phone as the distance is usually smaller.

Yeah, HN responds well to zooming.

On my android phone using Firefox, I either have to scroll 2x the default witdh to the right, or zoom out completely to fit the text on the screen. The text is barely readable to begin with, becomes impossible when the whole thing fits. Zooming is not a solution because the text won't reflow.

Does it not behave like this for you? I think Chrome handles it better. What browser do you use?

I use Safari on mobile (iPhone 13). I’ve seen what you described on the search page for some result items, but the main site has always been ok.

Opera on Android supports reflowing text (in settings).