Thinking about trying out android after almost 10 years

The last android phone I purchased was a Nexus 6p. Great phone but it had a lot of hardware problems that frustrated me enough to switch to iPhone (currently using a 13 Pro). I'm considering switching to android just to check it out and see how its changed over the years.

I was going to just order an s25 ultra but I thought I'd make a post and ask for some recommendations.

Budget - $1500 or less

I don't want to mess with my phone to get better battery life etc. So i don't want to unlock my bootloader and flash a kernel (I have no idea if people even do this nowadays) or anything like that. I'm interested in a good out of the box experience.

Also, are android updates better now? Back in the day if you didn't have a nexus phone you probably were not getting the new android update unless your phone was brand new.

Thanks!