> seriously, anyone at this point advocating for any other phone/os/service out there besides apple is really going out of their way to swim up river.

If there's anything I learned about any offers made from big tech, I would never trust any of them until proven for long-term usage for half a decade at bare minimum.

3-2-1 strategy is still a proven method for decades and will still be over any cloud services out there, including iCloud's.