"Consider this scenario: you purchase a new iPhone with the intention of no even using iOS and installing something like Linux."

Instead of a hardware compatibility list, it's a software compatibility list and every entry must be Apple-approved.

How did they ever pull this off. No one ever questioned it.

For decades, I have wanted option to remove the Apple OS and use non-Apple operating system. Seemed like no one else ever wanted to do that. People have been content to multi-boot, leaving the Apple OS installed.