John Gruber on Daring Fireball:

If all of this is true, what phone is someone supposed to buy if they want top-shelf hardware and the pure no-junk Android experience?

While the Pixel 5 being a shift to the mid-range (lower mid-range, maybe) may be a good move for their chances of gaining market share, John raises a good queastion, and one that has fewer and fewer answers.

My only suggestion would be OnePlus, which sells very premium hardware with great specs and about as clean and Android experience as you can get anywhere.