What is to be done?
Install LineageOS or GrapheneOS?
I feel that the root problem is that there aren't enough highly skilled low level developers willing to spend their time writing free software for mobile phones. Why do we have Linux and things around it? Because a lot of very skilled developers decided to work on it and offer it to the world.
Most (some sources say ~80%) Linux contributors are paid by their employer.
I hope that's true. Do you have a source?
"About 80% of kernel contributors are paid – by their employer!" -- https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/how-linux-is-buil... (from 2025)
Check out "Most active 5.10 employers" table (it's from 2020) on https://lwn.net/Articles/839772/
"Seventy-five percent of all kernel development is done by developers who are being paid for their work" -- https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/press-release/the-linu... (from 2012)
This is actually a super encouraging thing. I wonder why it doesn't work as well for the Gnu apps.