With Android, I have the option of avoiding the Google Play Store if they start to do weird things with it.
Just gonna mention that the EU literally just decided that Apple needs to open up their ecosystem like a few months ago and this will no longer be a problem, same as Android.
Back on topic, I have a Galaxy S22 Ultra, because Samsung is generally the farthest ahead on new features for Androids and I gave up on iPhones in high-school when they told me I needed to buy a new phone to install a game. Like Google Pixels are theoretically supposed to be the flagship of Android, but they're always way behind on stuff I already have on Samsung devices. The most recent example is that they're now cloning Samsung DeX.