Yes. The point of willingly putting yourself in the walled garden was that the experience was definitively better than the other options.
When the walled garden ceases to be better and starts adopting all the same dark patterns and user hostile experience as everyone else, what point is there in staying inside?
It makes a difference. I have uBlock Origin lite on my iPhone and it misses ads on Facebook that uBlock Origin on my PC blocks. Facebook has the most advanced anti-ad-blocker tech, so they're a good benchmark for how effective an ad blocker is.
> and I think for many Apple customers
Unfortunately, I think people who care about this enough to leave are a rounding error. It’s why the entire consumer product market looks the way it does.