I think the author is conflating Linux "culture", for the a lack of a better term, with the Linux "tech-stack". A lot of people like the extensibility of a "Linux phone" (here, meaning the tech), but do not give 2 shits about the culture-slash-zealotry, as exemplified by a distrust/dislike of technologies just because the are from megacorps like Google: what's wrong with writing Flutter UI on the Pinephone? Is it because Flutter was originally authored by Google?