I know what you mean, and totally agree with you. I have owned every Note phone since the Note II (up to my current Note 9), and I have watched them slowly take features away (good features, not obsolete ones), and increase the price. Once my Note 9 dies, I will either DIY replace the battery, or move on to another company. They used to be innovators, now they simply copy the best parts of what other makers come out with (mainly Apple), and take away features only to bring some of them back behind a pay wall. If I could (and have security) I would GLADLY go back to my Note 4. It had all the features you could ever want (for the tech of that time). Gimping BT codecs 2 years into owning my Note 9, and without warning, did not make me happy, to say the least.Since this is a TWS thread, I do think the fact that Samsung cripples other Bluetooth codecs in favor of their own Scalable codec should be mentioned (again), even though, in my opinion, I think they make some of the best Android phones and tablets. I have had every Galaxy phone since the GS3 - GS9 and still have the Tab S7 FE (which I think it a great tablet and my wife loves her Flip3 and had the S10 before that). However, I stopped using Samsung phones when I started getting into TWS because I got turned off by the fact that they don't support aptX HD or aptX adaptive and I have not had any Samsung devices that could automatically (i.e. no need to mess with Developer Options) achieve and maintain a stable LDAC 990 connection like my LG V60 and OnePlus 8T do. My Pixel 6 is not the snappiest of phones and also doesn't do LDAC 990 well but it is half the price of new Samsung phones and aptX HD works really well (also got it because it has dual SIM if you use eSIM). I do prefer the Samsung UI to Pixel but I actually like the OnePlus software the best (OnePlus 8T has a terrible camera though). I found the OnePlus 8T to be the most stable in terms of Bluetooth connection among my three current phones and pretty much use it as a Bluetooth DAP for commuting these days.
Disclaimer: All of these ideas are solely my opinion, and no phones were harmed in the making of this paragraph.