What malware? I've been using Android for over 10 years now. I've never had an issue personally. But I consider myself tech savvy and I don't install apps from untrusted sources. Also, iOS had multiple 0-days in the past. So you don't need to give users freedom over their paid for devices for them to be compromised.

Sure, iOS has had 0-days in the past. Which major OS/Hypervisor hasn't? The point is that Android is more susceptible to "lower hanging fruit" attacks, such as in the examples below.

For example: https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/camscanner-malicious-android-...

Very recent example: https://www.techradar.com/in/news/more-brutal-malware-laden-...

Your Android malware examples don't do much as an argument against sideloading. They both describe malware on Google's "curated" app store.