You might want to take a look at Universal Android Debloater it may help, but not necessarily meet all your requirements.

This is a bit of a pickle. Apart from Google, I think only Motorola and Nokia have stock-ish android. But they don't have stellar software upgrade promises. Oh and Sony makes some very good phones with clean android

What difficulties do you encounter with the custom ROM stuff?

If you get a oneplus, they are very forgiving of things you could do to brick a phone.

A recent oneplus and installing a custom ROM (LineageOS + MicroG) would be fairly doable for a larger audience than just the "nerd" or "hacker".

If people know what you struggle with particularly, they can help better.

To get rid of google completely, a custom ROM or other technical things are necessary, but debloating using a standard tool is a good first step and is better than what you will have from the off.

https://github.com/0x192/universal-android-debloater

Motorola it's a good one.

Warranties are practically useless, or I should say I find better value buying a 2 year old phone for a fraction of new. I can own three or four Pixel 5/6 for the cost of a new Pixel.

I prefer having a spare around. One dies, just swap Sim and move on.

Custom roms are significantly easier today, and you can buy phones with them pre-installed, e.g. Graphene, /e/, and Lineage. I'd look at those 3, noting that /e/ also provides some google-like convenience.

you can't have both privacy and total convenience

If nothing works out; look into Android Debug Bridge (ADB) and use these package names to remove all the google bloat. Perhaps it's a bit too involved, but AFAIK this is the easiest way to gain a semblance of privacy on your phone. I don't screw about with custom roms either.

LMK if you do try to use it, I can provide some guidance if you need.

I've read on several websites that Nokia comes with pretty much stock Android.

Keep it with smartphones like you would with every other computer: reinstall the preinstalled OS. Meaning in Android: a model that supports custom rom.

Btw, Samsung has probably the most, hum, custom vendor rom on their phones.

If you can get a Blu phone shipped in, that would be exactly what you're looking for. All Blu phones come unlocked by default, they're about a third the price of name brands with the same specs, and while they have minimal bloatware to begin with, their apps are all unprotected so you can uninstall everything that isn't a core system.

Bonus perks that aren't relevant to your question, every phone they make is made with gorilla glass, so they're ridiculously hard to crack or scratch. They come with a case, screen protector, charger block, cable, headphones, Sim key, and sticker in every box. Lastly, to put into perspective how bafflingly reliable these things are, I've bought 3 of them in 10 years. I'm replying to you from one I bought two years ago that has been a 6% decay in battery life and still has no issues running anything I use it for.

On Xiaomi it's very easy to remove whatever you want without rooting. Here's a 3:30 min video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_rqhoMpr_Y

Asus zen phone had received great reviews. You can use it as stock Android or with Asus' slight customizations. It's on the smaller side but it's a good price.

Google Android comes with tons of bloat so custom roms are the simplest these days.

You can buy devices running /e/os last time I checked

General-mobile only makes phones with 10 years old hardware afaik. Asus is probably what you're looking for. Huawei has fake ad icons on home screen by default which are not installed apps but still I don't recommend them because they don't have Play Store. Everything else will give you a lot of preinstalled 3rd party bloatware apps I think. Google Pixel or custom ROMs are the ways to go for lowest amount of pre-installed apps

So you're posting on the privacy community. Point 4 makes things very difficult, as every smartphone by default ships with either Google apps or Apple apps pre-installed, both of which collect data and send them to their respective companies.

What is your threat model?

The only way to get away from Google or Apple is to install a custom ROM, and OnePlus currently has the best phones for that at the moment, not including Google or Fairphone phones, since they offer unlockable bootloaders. The 12R currently has an AOSP port for it, and the 12 has a WIP port that has yet to be released to the public (but can be compiled from source).

I don't have hands-on experience with any of the brands listed so sadly can't give specific recommendations

Would a second-hand Google Pixel work fine for you, or do you definitely want to buy new? Mobile devices are really reliable nowadays, I doubt you'll need to worry about a warranty (which would not cover accidental damage, like a cracked screen)

I've noticed most countries outside of the US and Europe (making that assumption based on inability to get a Google Pixel or a Fairphone) typically have some locally used apps preinstalled regardless; usually a social networking and mobile e-payment app. I'd expect it to be possible to remove these using ADB if you have access to a computer.

Are you buying direct from manufacturer, or via a carrier? Do note that carriers may have customized the apps installed on your device if you buy one through them. For the least preinstalled bloat, buying direct is ideal

Nokia ? I have an XR20. Doubles as a GPS etc on the front of my bicycle, its great, has a headphone jack and SD expansion.

I am not that familair with their lineup though there is an XR21 I think? And a bunch of other models.

it will not have warrant.

No warrant will refund our privacy.

Its technically difficult for me. Also I will recommend the device to my friend (they don’t have even an idead what is custom-rom)

You think we were born knowing it?

Take a look at https://lemmy.ml/post/13548401