I only use iPhones, and since they're kept in pretty-much-indestructible cases, it's nearly always a case of them becoming "obsolete" (e.g. no longer fast enough to handle the latest iOS efficiently) after, say, 4 years or so, rather than any kind of actual failure of the device. No complaints, though - kept in the cases I use, I have 0 broken screens, despite the phones getting dropped every so often and generally roughed up. Never had any of the battery swelling or other issues described in this thread with lower-end phones, so as with anything, it's likely a case of getting what you pay for - my current 11 Pro Max was about $1200, but it was purchased for a very specific purpose that was essential. Had this not been the situation, I probably would've stayed with the previous one, an XS Max, which worked just fine until I traded it in.

Best one I ever got was a Kenwood TS-520S amateur radio transceiver (I'd passed my Novice Class License exam by that point, but the radio was $700 in 1978 - my awesome dad took a leap of faith, and I'm still using it today, though it's been largely supplanted by a more modern one.) 2nd best geeky gift: one of those Radio Shack 150-in-1 electronic project kits in 1976 or so. Both crucially important gifts, in addition to being turbo awesome.

Reasons this is terrible: 1. Plex sucks. 2. This is nothing but a money-harvesting aimed at the clueless, under the guise of "convenience." 3. Bandwidth requirements. 4. Moving all your media to "the cloud" for money is waaay safer, smarter and more reliable than, say, controlling it yourself locally for free. 5. The cost far eclipses the annual 1/3 of a pittance you'd pay for the electricity required to run basically any local device as a media server.