If you want something recent for the extended software support… Probably the A54 for basics, A34 if on a tighter budget. Otherwise, a S21+ or S21U should be able to be found affordable nowadays. Even a used S21FE is still worthy. Granted any of these flagships are Snapdragon variants but be warned that they can run a bit hot but not as bad as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 devices.

I still think they haven’t been able to make amends with the A52S. The S21FE wasn’t all that much better given the price hike except for better cameras (always nice). But at its price, people were willing to just splurge for the flagship or a previous year’s flagship. The A73 was a glorified A52S with a bigger screen but with a bigger price tag so that’s not doing it either. Even the A54 still had the A52S in discussions. It really was too good of a midranger.

They’re probably not keen anymore to release a revisioned variant of their “best” midrange model. The A52S was so successful, popular and capable that iy rendered their entire next generation of midrange offerings almost redundant and not as good. Probably ate away their potential revenue because of it.