Bought a second hand Pixel 7 in like new condition at the time for $250 on back market (dropped it, bought another, still cheaper than the equivalent iPhone 14 lol). That at least means I am not financially contributing to Google, but I do agree that I don't think there is a way to verify that the hardware is completely foolproof even if its the best option we currently have.

I guess that's true of any hardware though, and we have to make our assumptions based off known quantities such as Pixels' unique hardware security features?

But yeah, it's a minefield out there. Let's get carrier pigeons.

It's obvious to me the blackbox radio contains an inscrutable backdoor that negates all privacy aspects.

My issue with that is that Pixels are expensive, and in some places are not sold officially (meaning they can only be bought from smaller resellers with usually much less generous return policies). The newest models are outright unaffordable new. The only ones below $150 are either secondhand or out of support, so that's what poor people are left with? Plus, no headphone jack.

I use Graphene myself, but I dislike absolutism. I don't in the slightest regret buying my Pixel even though $300 is a painful sum to spend on a phone (and it was on the cheaper end if we're talking about up-to-date models!), but I know that my mother would never spend this much on a phone - so I look into Divest or Lineage on more common and affordable phones.

This is entirely valid as a concern. In my matrix GC someone just said pixel and oneplus are best for modding and I was like.... The whole point of me trying to degoogle is to contribute less to their economy, why would I buy their bs hardware😭☠️

Yeah... And probably all big players have somehow backdoored their phone :/.