But then you lose access to any Apple technology you may rely on, such as iMessage. In the EU this is irrelevant given that nobody gives a damn about it, but in

But then you lose access to any Apple technology you may rely on, such as iMessage. In the EU this is irrelevant given that nobody gives a damn about it, but in the USA it is one of the biggest messaging platforms, and not having an iPhone makes every group chat you are onto into a "green bubble chat" where everything is conveyed to everyone using crappy MMS instead of iMessage. This user experience degradation has led to multiple instances of "I would buy an android phone, but everyone around me uses iMessage". Thus, Apple being a monopolist IS an issue, given that they actively design their software to be less interoperable with the rest of the world as possible to lock you in into their ecosystem.