I personally wouldn't really care, here in Spain Apple is very marginal anyway due to the high prices. They have only a 15% marketshare on mobile: https://www.statista.com/forecasts/1275873/most-preferred-po...

After Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi.

This is also why iMessage isn't a thing here in Europe but whatsapp is.

But the latest info is that Apple is going ahead with opening sideloaded stores, but for EU region only.