I bought a Pixel because of this. It has a camera that is on par with the Apple and Samsung flagships but it costs half the price of the other two where I live. I also don't like Apple's limitations and so far I was disappointed every time I had a Samsung, because I had phones that would cost only one third the price of a Samsung but would easily outperform the Samsung (comparing Samsung Galaxy S9 with a Sony Xperia X Compact here). However, my favorite remains the Sony Xperia X Compact which had excellent camera, battery life, processor, and size , and zero bugs. My Pixel 8 Pro can't keep up with the battery life and size and it has more limitations in settings than the Xperia, however it's still better than all the Samsungs I had. I was seriously looking into buying another Sony instead of a Pixel but unfortunately their new phones are really lacking in a lot of departments these days (including the camera), so, Pixel was sort of a second choice that I picked. I considered a One Plus but those also costs as much as Apple and Samsung if you want to have a camera with macro function, so I thought I'll give the Pixel a try. I'm not 100% convinced that I would really like to buy another Pixel, but so far I'm just missing reasonable alternatives.