I have a Pixel 4a (with Calyx) for a few years already (start of 2021) and it's still going great. The battery is okay. Everything works nice. It's smooth. It runs everything perfectly fine.
This makes me glad to see that hardware wise this phone was really built to last, I can't even count how many times I dropped it so hard that I was scared to see the damage (which was always either nothing or a broken screen protector)
But software wise I'm screwed as security updates are already gone from Google and I only get the extended support from Calyx which will also end soon.
Now I'm forced to choose between having a phone that is insecure or buying a new one.
So thanks Google for the high quality hardware, but what's up with this software planned obsolescence??
I know this isn't exactly right to repair, but it also kind of is because if Google decided to ditch the 4a, they should be forced to open source the software so that the public can actually repair it.
I'm sure that some of their latest updates can be modified slightly to work for the 4a, but they don't care and for them this is a win-win since they don't have to maintian support and they get new customers who would otherwise be satisfied with an "old" phone.
What happened to the days when an old phone meant a phone that was already crumbling to pieces, and not a fully functional computer that is slightly older then a toddler?
Okay, then you don't care. That's fine. There's no mass hacking of phones going on, that's not the risk and whoever told you that it was is stupid.
It's an individualized problem, which is why it doesn't make the news and why you're on your own when companies fail to keep your device up to date. It's not as sensational as a massive fire so it's hard to care about.
Anyway, hopefully you'll never have to worry about being hacked. The odds are in your favour, after all. The issue is when you get unlucky.
I do want to add that there are also mass hacking of phones, they just tend to be non-disruptive to the user, so it rearly gets coverage.