Not OP, but as someone who hates ads and values privacy, switching to a phone built by the world's largest data broker / advertising agency seems like a bit of wrong turn.

iOS has many - many! - issues, but it is a more privacy-respecting platform than Android is. I'm not saying this to knock Android; I would dearly love it if Google weren't such a data hoover. I'd switch over and never look back.

Why would Android be inherently less privacy-respecting? Just use it without a Google account or use GrapheneOS. Will be more secure than iOS, too.

How about a Pixel with GrapheneOS then? Or even a Linux phone if you can live without some apps? There are options and compromises.

I thought about it but it’s not really an option if you need certain apps / push notifications. If the options are Android without google play services vs iPhone, the realistic option is iPhone.

GrapheneOS has a neat feature called profiles, so you can have a profile with play services when needed but your main one can be de-googled. Push notifications and apps are cancer anyways, try to live without them.

You're not wrong, but try and tell my bank they should release banking apps for those systems.