Actually, no, I've never owned a Samsung, lol 😂. HTC, then Asus, then another Asus, then Xiaomi, and now another Xiaomi.
Samsung or Apple, that's mostly a US thing. In Europe, we use whatever we can, Moto, Xiaomi, Samsung, Asus, Honor, Vivo, TCL... whatever the operator offers that has the best performance vs. price value 😂.
Eastern Europe to be more exact... but I have talked to people from Western Europe, most of them take whatever the operator offers and is a good compromise between price and performace. Currently, Xiaomi seem like the best choice regarding this and stability/reliability.
My point, it's it's a downgrade for most people and you can replace the battery at a shop for$10 in labor (or dyi should you choose) if you want to keep the phone.