Used iPhone, potentially iPhone Pro 11 or iPhone 12. Performance is unmatched, software updates are supplied far longer than for typical android devices.
Larger capacity versions can often be found at almost the same price as base versions if you want to store a lot of data.
Pro versions often have the benefit that their owners were more careful.
But if you're already invested in the android ecosystem and/or looking for lowest prices, that may not be an option for you.
From my experience, Android devices degrade faster in terms of how slow they become; the UX and UI are less responsive and they can't keep up with newer applications.
While I agree that there is an "Apple Tax", the retained performance of iPhones is really surprising, and that's why I feel they make a good value.
Some of my folks have (as some of yours might as well) iPhones 6s and 7 which have been running with absolutely zero issues. Given that the 6s is 6 years old now, I find that very impressive.