The potential a phone like that would have if you explained people how states can and do put their nose into their lives is quite big IMHO. It is just that people have no idea of how much they can take from your info through a phone.
I have a much harder time thinking about how giving states access to my information has been harmful for me. I can think of potential harms, if the state started doing religious or ethnic persecution(not trying to diminish the chance of this, but not a problem today) so I'm aware of potential threats. But other than that... What exactly should I be worried about?
I am concerned about any actor, as well, but take into account that a state has a huge amount of resources and if they are motivated enough can make your life worse than almost any private actor. It has happened in history, this is not something fictional.
The reach at which a private actor can harm you is much more limited in the general case IMHO.
You don't need a special phone or hardened OS to defend against that, and users vulnerable to this will remain just as vulnerable regardless of how much hardening there is.
A lot of people really don’t understand much at all about anything that they don’t constantly see and touch their whole lives. A lot of people truly just live in the moment constantly and use their higher order thinking for social navigation and sex.