> quality of the physical device
Agreed. I really like their hardware but I still want to be in control and running my own software on it.
> lack of spyware
Doubt.
> They aren’t looking to run windows or Linux or anything like that.
Asahi Linux compatibility will absolutely be a major factor in my willingness to purchase Apple hardware. I just purchased a phone because GrapheneOS recommended it. This stuff matters.
Unlike Microsoft, it’s not been reported anywhere that Apple has spyware built in. Props to Apple’s PR team if they’re so competent they can pull the wool over everyone’s eyes for years.
I don't see myself running it for years, until it becomes the only way to get security updates to continue to use the hardware.
Apple has virtualization and paravirtualization built into the OS to run Linux and Windows as ARM VMs. They even have support to let ARM Linux use Rosetta 2 to run x86_64 ELF binaries.
I can already run Linux in a supported manner. I don't see a reason to run boot linux until my current hypervisor is no longer getting support.
The number of people who want to sysadmin their phones is effectively zero.