Other than your carrier give it for free or cheap, I don’t really see the reason why should you buy new phone. I’ve been using Redmi Note 9 for past 3 years and recently got my had on Poco F5. I don’t see the point of my ‘upgrade’. I sold it and come back to my Note 9. Gaming? Most of them are p2w or microtransaction garbage or just gimped version of its PC/Console counterpart. I mean, $400 still get you PS4, TV and Switch if you don’t mind buying used. At least here where I live. Storage? Dude, newer phone wont even let you have SD Card. Features? Well, all I see is newer phones take more features than it adds. Headphone jack, more ads, and repairability are to name a few. Battery? Just replace them. However, my Note 9 still get through day with one 80% charge in the dawn. Which takes 1 hour.
I am genuinely curious why newer phone always selling like hot cakes. Since there’s virtually no difference between 4gb of RAM and 12gb of RAM, or 12mp camera and 100mp camera on phone.
My dream is that Apple will release a mini every 3 or 4 years just for me. I currently have a 13 mini too, and I reckon a 16 mini would be perfect.
Otherwise I might end up with an Asus Zenfone, even though it is bigger than a mini.
I would look into Asus’ software upgrade policy. From what I understand it’s pretty abysmal; something to consider when you’re someone who holds onto phones for more than 2 years. Google and Samsung have much longer support cycles.