This isn't really supported by how other similar devices are treated.
We aren't seeing all PCs having hardware level censorship functionality inserted into it, as the behest of governments.
The idea that a country would stop all phones from being purchased, if phones simply worked similarly to PCs, sounds about as unlikely as a country blocking the purchase of "unlocked" PCs, which we see is not currently happening.
I mean, that literally did almost happen once, right here in the US of A. And sure, points to you, no country has yet attempted it since then, but also, China has locked onto a much more productive and efficient model; controlling the flow of information itself, rather than the client devices at hand.
And yeah, that's circumvent-able by users of sufficient tech literacy and bravery, but also, that fact has not presented an issue yet for China's Communist Party in their efforts to keep a stranglehold on the culture of their country, apart from perhaps Hong Kong.
> controlling the flow of information itself, rather than the client devices at hand.
It is still significantly harder to enact censorship on a wide scale as china is trying to do, than it is to simply change 2 app stores.
The stuff that china is doing, is much more difficult. It uses a lot of resources, and is not perfect.
I would rather more barriers be put up, so as to make censorship more difficult, wherever possible.
And making phones more open is another such barrier, that makes censorship more difficult.
Rights are not binary. Oppression and censorship is a spectrum, and taking actions against such oppression makes the oppression less effective, even if some oppression still happens.