point me to some mature, effective options and I'd consider it.

now that you've done that, which ones are cheap, cuz most people are broke af

FairPhone, Nothing Phone, Jolla, Motorola, Google Pixel.

If you're broke you shouldn't touch Samsung anyway. Better off buying a Xiaomi and unlocking it.

Really quick that leads to not being able to buy anything though.

Sony has done a bunch of evil things (deleting paid media, hiding rootkits in music CDs). Apple abuses their monopoly to force using their web browser and extort a 30% cut of all purchases. Every car manufacturer is tracking every car they sell and selling that data. Retailers are tracking store visits using everything from face recognition to MAC addresses on cell phones.

Boycotting can only do so much. We need regulations to protect people and steep fines for violating them.

It's not about boycotting or regulations. Just don't buy products you don't get to own, it's not that hard.

I've never owned a Sony (other than a headset) or Apple product either. I am doing fine.