What stopped me from buying flagship phones is the repair costs for phones are far too expensive in relationship to the value of the phone. Results will vary, but waterproofing usually diminishes after a repair.
I am not the right market for flagship phones because I don't have thousands of dollars to put towards disposable income, but I would expect a premium phone to come with a premium warranty and repair service... Do they typically not?
AppleCare specifically covers water damage of any kind, and is what I would assume OP would be referring to as a "premium warranty and repair service".
Eh... get protection plan, or trade up every year for big discount on the next flagship. Or with AT&T plans you are getting a "free" phone fairly often if you don't intend to leave the carrier for a few years (most people wont). The parent comment you replied to makes some assumptions that you have to spend full price all at once every year which is false. Also, there's almost always a deep discount on Pixel phones around most holidays.
And if you truly are ultra budget $300 phone guy then sure this doesn't apply to you.
You sound like you spend a lot of money on phones, and what for? By the way, there are $100 phones - $300 isn't ultra budget. I tend to use $300 phones for about five years; they come with some excess performance when new that allows that.
