Everything you said is valid. However, I see many times people putting GrapheneOS on older pixels and while this works perfectly fine performance wise, on the security aspect is a different topic. Users that install the OS on a pixel want a robust security system that also protects your privacy. A newer pixel has the hardware and chips to support against more sophisticated attack vectors and many times vulnerabilities haven't been identified in the wild and it takes time for people to exploit them.

So while yes it makes no sense to buy an extremely expensive phone with multiple cameras and unnecessary features, a device with the newest chips is very significant to complete your security stack on your phone.

I think the best decision people can make is to keep or move to a pixel 10 and wait for next year when new phones should have removable batteries. By this time we can also expect other Motorola phones compatible with Graphene.

I'm still using Pixel 6a bought 3 years ago and only had battery replaced mostly due to "security concern" on pixel phones, but now it holds up to 2 full days without charging when not heavy used.

I'm using average 4,5 out of 6GB of ram, phone runs perfectly smooth with no clutters and is reasonably sized to hold and use comfortably.

If not upcoming EOL, I wouldn't change it for another 3 years or even more. I really dont understand why people need those pumped up 7" bricks with computing power of older PC and price of an used car.

I'm still using a Pixel 6 Pro, and Pixel 8 Pro is what I would probably upgrade it to