[dleink]

I want to research this route more but the camera is an important component to me. I suspect their is a model of phone from 5-10 years ago that has a an under-the-radar stellar camera and I would find "perfectly adequate". ("perfectly adequate" is my favored state for most tech solutions.)

[eric__cartman]

Yeah the camera is the only feature that would really make me want to switch phones. In my case it's more about being a broke CS student without a job lol.

But the low-end device thing still stands. At least here in Argentina where I live most people can't buy a $1000+ phone without going into debt or saving money for a stupid amount of time to get it. Some people that really can't afford to do so still buy them though. Maybe it is reasonable for some but I never saw any appeal in spending so much money (comparatively to a monthly salary) on a non necessity. I happily spent that kind of money on a PC to use for work/study, but a phone? Nah.

[dleink]

Same! The camera is the only part of the phone I want to spend real money on.

Beyond personal preferences, I live and work in an area of California where people could greatly benefit from easily accessible phones so I'm interested in what's possible.

[ragall]

The Huawei P10+, released in 2017, has very good Leica optics, on par with much newer iPhone or Galaxy devices.

https://www.gsmarena.com/huawei_p10_plus-8515.php