Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oddly enough, this is why I stopped buying iOS devices. With my old Android phones/the one Android tablet I got I was able to install something useful and pared-down once they became older and unsupported. They work fine as readers/browsers on my home network or as "fancy" remotes and local-network media players. The only old iOS device I haven't sold/tossed is an iPad 2 which is unbearably slow for most things, and…
All valid points. But I’ve made the mistake of trading in or losing all of my old Android phones which had unlocked bootloaders. Also, installing a phone OS is more intimidating to me than, say, putting Debian on a laptop/desktop. I’m happy to go into a BIOS, play with voltages, overclock, etc. but please don’t ask me to hold some combination of buttons to start a process that can easily brick my phone.
These days there are some decently high guardrails for not bricking a device, as long as you follow installation instructions.