I would tell you you're preaching to the choir. I'm not gaming on my phone.
Still, if I'm paying iPhone 17 Pro prices, I better be getting iPhone 17 Pro performance. I'm looking at the Pixel 10/11 Pro and I'm looking over at my Galaxy S10 and thinking "what's the difference"?
If you couldn't care less about the performance, save a few hundred bucks and get a mid-ranger. Or just throw more money at Google. Your money, not mine. I didn't earn it. I'm just saying "make it make sense." Which they can't.