In a sense yes, but PinePhone is also focused on economically feasible for developers. The hardware may be solid, but the firmware and software on it still need a lot of work. It's a frustrating experience. Others mention freezes when making or receiving calls. I have the KDE Plasma version and I sometimes get kernel panics when taking it on and off the charger. Enthusiasts (like me) will pay $200 to support the project and have a secondary handheld device running Linux, but at higher prices, not so much.
Also, I'm not trying to knock the pinephone - I have one and fully support them. Their goal is to get more linux phones into the hands of more people, both devs and end-users. They're using open-source distributions and their approach will (in theory) lead to better software. The experience should get better over time.
There is the Librem 5 by Purism. They do target the free as in freedom crowd, and it starts off at $800. They also have the same phone made entirely in the USA for $3k. The PinePhone and Librem hardware have fairly similar specs. The Librem 5 does have a better camera and a slightly larger battery, but the real difference is going to be that they put a lot more polish into the system.