Go to android then. Why you here complaining?
Also, what $400 android you talking about that has better battery life? And running Microsoft?? I would like to be enlightened.
I didn't complain ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I got the Nothing Phone 2a. Its about the dimensions of the 16 Plus and has the same camera arrangement.
iOS is still more reliable than Android most of the time and has some great exclusive apps.
Android is no slouch though. It too has some great exclusives (shout out to Bundled Notes) and can do a few things iOS cannot (like Dreamcast emulation).
The Nothing Phone has a lovely monochrome skin over Android (which you can turn off if you like), battery to last 2 days and proper VRR, not a fixed 120hz. It charges quickly enough and the camera is excellent. I say this as a photographer as well.
Other people's mileage may vary but I do wonder sometimes why hte majority of the market, that is the general public and not the enthusiasts who post on internet forums like ourselves pay anything more than $399 for a phone at all. $799 really should be the price ceiling for everyone though. Bar the 5x camera there isn't one feature in a Pro iPhone that makes anybody's life better over the regular 16.
Apple (and by extension every other company that followed) have almost duped the market into believing anything cheaper than $799 must have something terrible wrong with it. This is why the iPhone SE lives inside an iPhone 6. Android phones are not the 'trash' some posters here would have you believe and the Samsung A55 and Pixel 8a sit nicely alongside the Nothing Phone 2 in offering exceptional value at an affordable price.
(Ah, but PRIVACY! they will cry. Just because you have Android doesn't mean you have to use any Google apps or services. Samsung offer a full suite of replacement apps that plug right into Microsoft as a backend. 3rd parties like Evernote, Notion and Dropbox never went anywhere either)
Apple continues to make excellent, reliable phones that make lots of people happy. I use their kit every day. But the world outside the walled garden isn't
Fallout 4)