I am a long time Samsung user, always rooted but obviously not fully degoogled, simply because I like the hardware. I have downloaded and backed up the firmware, ready to be patched for a rooted install at any moment if I would ever need to factory reset. I realize that rooting isn’t a realistic solution for most users, but for those that it is, it makes your device “unofficial” or “unsupported” or whatever and as for Samsung specifically, as long as you don’t upgrade from One UI 7 and you have a European model, your bootloader will remain unlockable.

As for apps, I get everything from the source with Obtainium, except for my state issued electronic ID, a paid music player and a banking app, which I get from the Play Store, which I only unfreeze and unblock when I intentionally update.

I also have an old Galaxy Note 9, on which I run Lineage OS, but it just sits there, just in case.