My Samsung phone is a couple of years old and cost around £200 when new. (This is the Galaxy A5 (2017).) It takes a few seconds to access the gallery, yes. Indeed, over USB connection my PC takes longer to access the phone's gallery. If it costs another £500 or more to obtain a phone that can save me those few seconds, I will keep that money and spend it on something else, thanks.
I haven't bothered to put an SD card in it because I don't use many apps, but I could if I wanted to and that would remove your other point. I have never had the out of memory problem.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
