The folks who choose iPhone in part because of a perception of relative privacy and respect for the user (like myself) will think twice.
My two concerns are that Android as an ecosystem is almost certainly still worse, and that the vast majority of users will not care.
I’m tempted to jailbreak my devices going forward, although I guess the folks at Apple would say that makes me a pedophile.
Edit: seeking recommendations for Android phones with strong performance and reasonable privacy protections. Ideally one that can be used without a Google account.
Android devices are much more open than iOS devices. There are quite a few alternative OSs with much more privacy than Google and Apple
Unlike Apple, Android devices are not vendor locked into just one OS.
Android probably is not much different. But and this a big one, android devices are not tied to the host google OS and are waaaay way more open than Apple. This is because of Apple's ir tight grip on their hardware ecosystem and lobbying against right to repair. Also, the abundance of android phone makers means you get features at a variety of price points.
The OS options are LineageOS (my daily driver), CalyxOS worth more google support, microG lineage.
More different OS are Ubuntu touch (very active), postmarket OS with multiple frontends just like on Linux desktop, Manjaro Mobile, etc.
And hardware wise, there is Pine phone and Purism. But the more people paying for these, the more there is money for the competition.
Apple id already sitting on a staggering $200billion dollars. $200 billion.