Even on Google-flavored Android devices, you don't have to use the Play Store if you don't want to. You don't have to use Google Maps if you don't want to. You don't have to send your location to Google if you don't want to. iOS is strictly worse than all the other alternatives I know of.
The risk of malware is far higher on iOS than on a Google Android device, with Xcodeghost alone infecting more users than all others combined, and oft-exploited system apps like iMessage and Safari requiring a reboot to update. I don't know what you mean by leaks and slowing down (maybe https://www.npr.org/2020/11/18/936268845/apple-agrees-to-pay...), but my point was exactly that this doesn't matter on most Android devices, including Google-flavored ones, because (unlike with iOS) you don't have to use Google's app store or maps or SMS app.
It's entirely possible to use a computer for computing and a phone for voice/text. There's no need for combining them into one device with the worst aspects of them all.
While technically correct, this point of view is about a decade behind reality. Mobile devices are the de-facto computation device for most people. Fewer and fewer people have dedicated computation devices; there's no need for them if you have a smartphone.
It does mean being beholden to one of two smartphone OS makers unless you're in the technically capable 5%.
To use a smartphone, arguably. It's now how it's shaping out though. The power of chat apps (telegram, whatsapp, etc) alone makes it hard to be part of a social circle without one.
Peer pressure's an incredibly strong force, as is the stigma of being an outsider.
Whats the point of investing time in chat with people that you'll never see? I'm old enough to know that those virtual relationships had no value for my life. Platform shouldn't be a reason to keep in touch with someone.
