I have to agree, Apple when it comes to updates and how long they support devices do put Android offering to shame.
On their bug reporting app, switching apps while having a bug report half filled-in in order to e.g. check which URL caused a recent crash, will immediately throw the bug reporting app out of memory and lose your half-entered bug report.
Updates within months of getting a brand new device (on the low end RAM-wise), seem to have completely ruined it. People have told me to buy one with more RAM and most issues would be resolved, but I don't want to throw in more money for uncertainty.
Of course you can buy a cheap phone, but for a 1K phone I expect support for more than 3 years or I wont buy it. That is one thing keeping me from switching back to Android. I likely never will with the preloaded crapware and lack of support.
Buying the 3 of them costs less than buying a single iPhone. They last longer than any iPhone due to the possibility to update the OS as long as there are developers working on the device. The 8yo Samsung gets weekly OTA updates (which I do not always install...).