If you can tolerate an older phone by 2 or 3 generations, a cost-benefit analysis reveals its cheaper still to go used and buy that class on a Facebook marketplace like platform and then repeat that (selling or even keeping your old phone) when you're ready to upgrade again.
This is what I personally do. I haven't upgraded my iPhone 12 yet and when I do, I'll likely go like an iPhone at base settings thats 2-3 generations older than present then.
Yes, this. I've found good prices on used electronics on Facebook marketplace, as well as eBay, Swappa ("Craigslist for used electronics", cheaper than Backmarket but no QA, is just for coordinating private sales person-to-person), Backmarket (slightly more expensive than Swappa, but has in-house QA and is backed by their business), and Unclaimed Baggage.
I think I'm too clumsy for a programme like this
The final “Upgrade” is to wholly and completely acknowledge that you don’t own your hardware, we do. Frankly, leasing a modern Apple product feels more honest having everything locked down on a device I ostensibly “own” and while the OS constantly promotes their cloud & services ecosystem.