That's what it's become for me and my circle. Got my parents the older iPhones (6S) late last year and got the same for myself this month. I miss being able to access the local storage (one small hack I found was using the Firefox app local folder to store my files)
Did the same with my parents (SE + 6S) and alongside iOS I use Jolla Sailfish and ancient Nokia N9 with Meego (both pure hackable Linux).
Well, I just turn my location services off. I can't stand the Apple ecosystem even if I have to give them a huge props that they take integrity way more seriously than Google.
Maybe I should invest in a dumb phone.
If you're really willing to go to a dumbphone... just get an iPhone and don't install any apps. That way, at the very least, you still have a killer camera.
I have an iPhone 8 actually, but the screen is broken. Recently switched to an Samsung, which I now kind of regret.