I have an iPhone and I like that, too. I had an Android before.
Like you I'm not particularly price sensitive.
These are just my preferences, I don't think it makes me a cultist.
I’ve realised that while I consider my laptop a computer, to which I need full access and control, the phone for me is basically an appliance. It’s like my washing machine but for messaging, web browsing, and ordering shit. Conceptually I want it to be unencumbered and open source, but in reality I try not to spend all day staring at it and when I do have to I just want it to work. (I get it, that’s how they get you! I’ll donate money to fixing that, but I don't have the time, patience, or energy to use the alternatives in their current state.)
(Well, I had to update the kernel for the wifi)
And it has a hash key!!
Because my problem isn’t finding a way to be happy with a Linux setup at a point in time but finding a way not to have to do a bunch of work every so often just to keep stuff working.
Once something works (and only WiFi didn't work out the box), it keeps working.
- I cannot stay happy with a WM/DE config on Linux. Most of then can’t even render a desktop at a reasonable size (or even consistent across all apps)
- I like the hardware and I’m not particularly price sensitive
Now I can add the performance for local AI to the reasons to do so again.
I almost entirely use open source software though, and I don’t think I use anything Mac specific except Alfred.
As far as I can tell, there is no viable alternative for people who are simultaneously very demanding of their tools and unwilling to spend half their life fiddling with configs.