Well, Motorola's next flagship is shipping with GrapheneOS, so we'll see.
And I don't see how the name "GrapheneOS" is any worse than "Android". Really, the biggest barriers to adoption are:
- No phones come with it pre-installed (yet)
- They only work with Pixel phones (for now)
- Some apps like certain banking apps don't work
People can buy Pixels with GrapheneOS preinstalled from a bunch of companies despite it not being shipped that way from the factory.
Pixels are currently the only devices providing the required updates and hardware security features. There will be at least one Motorola flagship with GrapheneOS support in 2027 meeting the same requirements. It will expand to more Motorola devices from there. iOS only runs on iPhones but that's hardly a barrier to adoption for it. Pixels aren't quite broadly available enough and it will take time before we can support lower end Motorola devices in the same price range as an 'a' series Pixel.
The vast majority of Android apps do work. Banking apps are a special case where around 10% don't work due to banning using a non-Google-certified OS. Most banking apps definitely work on GrapheneOS.
Google will destroy any OEM which ships an Android fork out of the box. Google only permits alternative ROMs as long as they are niche and keep developers distracted from creating real competition.
Samsung is already largely free from Google's egregiously anti-competitive licensing rules for Google Mobile Services. Why do you think it's going to survive for the rest? It's already unsustainable to have different rules for the largest OEM and that's without even taking into account future court victories similar to what happened in South Korea.
The MADA has been illegal for a long time, but you'll still find nobody willing to cross it. Samsung is indeed the only company with the power to actually escape Google and survive its penalties intact, which is why they are paid so lavishly to stay in.