Yes, I don't see much potential or a "de-appled" iPhone experience. With Apples tight control over hardware and software it would just be an endless cat and mouse game.
I would rather see efforts focussed on making open source Android and mobile Linux flavours better.
After the CSAM news there is a noticable uptick in HN discussion about calyx/lineage/pine/librem/etc. 2022 will be the year of the Linux Phone.