For example, I only buy/use old high-end (for their day) business class laptops and put linux on them. They work for everything I need to write and surf.
I also bought an iPhone that was already a few years old and plan to keep it until it stops getting security updates from Apple. I also moved from Android to Apple not because I like iPhones better (I don’t, really), but because the years of security updates (versus maybe one or two, on Android) matters to me.
I do the same thing you do regarding phones and tablets. Getting a new-in-the-box iPhone that’s several generations older still feels like a step up, plus I’m saving hundreds.
It does everything I need it to. I don’t understand people who are so addicted to “newness” that they willingly pay much more than necessary. I wouldn’t do that even if I could afford to. It just doesn’t make sense.