Most of Motorola's devices are unlockable, too. I run LinegeOS without Google tools on an $80 discount model from a few years ago.

Xiaomi phones are the gold standard of price/performance where I live and their bootloader can be unlocked.

Obligatory reminder of the state surveillance and censorship baked into Xiaomi products: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28616683

If you can swap the device OS with something more trustworthy, does any of that matter or is there evidence that the hardware itself is untrustworthy?

It is not only about hardware. Lineageos re-uses binaries from the original image. The modem still runs original binaries. The bootloader is also original. Plenty of space to hide backdoors, possibly disguised as bugs.

Oh, I knew the modem issue but not that they were reusing binaries. Thanks.

Premium features, premium price point.

Are you content that full ownership of the device is a "premium feature"?

Think of it the opposite way.

All other devices are subsidized to be just an advertising platform for their producer. Real prices of devices are those that you consider "premium".

So privacy is a premium feature now, that should only be available to developed societies? Okay.

that's not how it should be, that's how it is. The only way cheaper devices are so cheap is by cutting all the corners they can, and turns out one of the corners people don't care to be cut is their privacy and security

Is locking the bootloader cutting corners though? Sounds like an extra step to me.

locking bootloader is a way to prevent you from undercutting their spyware. if there is a spyware, than it is a part of their business model, and every user that got away is a drop in revenue. But their targeted users don't mind to be spied on.

How in the world is this a premium feature? It's a piece of software that can be written once (and only once), with the cost amortized between all OEMs.