Their own Pixel phones have unlocked bootloaders by default, in fact, it's very user friendly to put another OS on them, like Graphene. I can only recommend.
This. I've been using a refurbished Pixel 7 Pro with GrapheneOS for some months and couldn't be more happy, although I still prefer to do everything on the PC. I'm too used to the big screen and real keyboard; even this 12" Thinkpad is on a different planet compared to any cellphone wrt usability.
Pixels are expensive however, and so many cheap old tablets could be converted to run native Linux and be reused for a lot of tasks, from IoT/home controllers to instrumentation panels, but keeping them tight closed only makes sure they're thrown away once the OS is too old to be upgraded or run new apps.