Oddbean

Depends on what you want it for. I'm a bit out of the loop, but, it really depends on how little you can get by with in terms of storage, camera hardware, and if you do dumb stuff (IMO) like gaming on your phone.

Pixel 8 Pro and GrapheneOS. But remember, a custom third party is just that. It won't feel like a modern OS with all of the modern OS bells and whistles. It will feel like a very customer OS that you control.

You can do that with low-end hardware and LineageOS or some other custom ROM. The pixel/GrapheneOS combo is pretty much the most secure that I know of, but it's not the cheapest hardware to acquire.

I personally avoid e-sims. They are just too easy to attack without your knowledge. Unfortunately the best non-Google phone is using a Google phone. Retarded innit? I've gotten really unlucky on lineage support for new (and old devices) I had an couple LG phones and both were 1 model number letter off in the extended model number. Non-flagship Motorola phones feel cheap and outdated, crappy hardware specs and so on. Flagship motos from the past 2 years don't have lineage support. Fairphones are likely the best all around if you live in an area the will sell you one. Good mfg hardware support and OS availability. AOSP is wayyyy too much for most people including myself who spent the past 7 years reverse engineering firmware. I recently grabbed my old LG and yanked as much as I could out with adb. Just yanking, bricking, and resetting until I got as much gone as I could. Could still have back doors, but its the best I know how to do. Removed ALL of the stock apps until I just had a settings icon in my app tray. Removed the launcher and installed lawnchair. I still need to set up recents, but it works for now. Super fast and decent on battery. Used Obtanium to get the 5 apps I use.