LineageOS is the only one of the three that supports older hardware, but I'd recommend getting a previous-gen Pixel for the seven-year (at least) support cycle.
[0] https://grapheneos.org/faq#supported-devices
That pretty much sums it up, there's a reason all of those custom ROMs pivoted to supporting basically just Pixels. Apart from Pixels, your only options are Fairphone and a few years old Chinese models (Xiaomi, Motorola, OnePlus), none of which are even close to state-of-the-art hardware.
Custom ROMs are pretty much dead, this just might be the final nail in their coffin.
Well, Pixel is arguably pretty shitty hardware as well
I will miss having stock android and timely updates, I will hate Samsung bloatware and apps I can't uninstall, but it's I hope to have more stability and longer life for my phones. In barely getting 2 years of life from my Pixels. I'm also seriously considering iPhones as well.
It would be very nice (but a tremendous effort) if Graphene OS took this opportunity to switch hardware preference right before Google's August release. Maybe to someone who could make a modern tablet too.
"OpenBSD"
"Locks you out of many important apps ... (Unless you want to combat integrity system)"
When did you try to switch?
I've had no trouble with banks, brokers or payment networks on GrapheneOS but I don't use crap like company-X pay wallets..
you don't need it, it's just a phone. Yeah maybe now, but in two years when the pixel is shitting itself you will understand.
If GrapheneOS dies, that's probably it for me with pixels. The only advantage left is how cheap you can get a new flagship pixel on the gray market.
I admire this effort. However I don't care that much about my privacy and I don't care about extended security. All I want is a basic Android system without any of added apps, without any AI. I want the most basic apps for phone, SMS, camera. And I want working Google Play to install some additional apps. I want OS focused around this goal. Not OS focused around extended security or privacy.
So it's like suggesting to buy M1 Abrams instead of Toyota Land Cruiser.
I'm embracing ascetic computing. I'm using Arch Linux with bare minimum of apps for my desktop. And I wanted to do the same for my smartphone. Pixel is incredibly bloated. I spent few days just navigating its maze of settings, trying to disable them all. At this point, I'm back to my old iPhone, which at least allows me to uninstall almost every single app and old enough, so it does not support Apple Intelligence (thank, god).
Its similar to what the Linux distributions that try to turn on a SeLinux like profile by default would feel like if they really put in the work. That's nothing like switching (from a Linux) to a BSD.
(I would love to just run my desktop Linux with a half baked touch UI and rely on browser versions of almost everything, but that would feel like a real switch between OSes instead of just seeing the same OS with a corrected security profile as the user. I also don't see why you compare it to an Abrams, I doubt an Abrams has a security model intentionally compromised by an ad company, GrapheneOS just makes it possible to catch the dumbest or laziest attacks on a system no one should run ever.)
Also a lot of folks around still sporting Samsun S20 (though they should probably ditch them now due to the lack of security updates).
Getting only 2-3 years of life is very bad for most people.