For what it's worth, I only buy Android phones that have unlockable bootloaders and I can root so that ultimately I have control over my own device.

But yes, I agree on how letting Apple and Google assert a level of control unparalleled in the history of computing has been a massive step backwards for our industry and consumers in general.

I don't trust Google, but it's practical. There are tons of ways you can control/limit privacy issues, like a combination of opting out of personalized ads, AdGuard, DNS level filtering, and not using any Google services other than necessary for Android. Many of these require little effort but go very far -- farther than the default experience from a new iPhone. In fact many of these things are unrelated to Android. With these in place I don't see using Android a problem by itself. (On the other hand, if you use an iPhone but have no adblocking or don't block tracking domains, and use Google services all the time, I don't see how it is better)