Sitting here with 38 of 128GB used on my Pixel 9 Pro. I don't believe I have ever topped 50 GB on the device. My Girlfriend's Oneplus 12R has 60 of 128G used. (And she hoards!)
Not sure why the offering of a phone having lower storage is a negative, as long as it also offers higher tiers of storage, which it does.
Agree about the performance. Doesn't impact me much, but it would be nice to have considering Google's prices have risen while performance hasn't lifted much.
Overall though with call screening (Now with AI, which amuses me greatly for call scammers!) and no bloatware, I won't consider another phone.