Yes it absolutely is different.

Android, Windows, MacOS, Linux, et al provide you APIs for interacting with the operating system, for instance if I want to send a request over the network, I tell the operating system to send this request through the network card.

But they do not dictate what I draw for my app on the screen, how I send messages between apps, or really anything at the application later. The OS APIs are there as an interface between the hardware and the application layer and that's it.

Like I said, iOS tries to dips it's finger far into the application layer and make itself a platform to have more control, not let apps compete with Apple's apps, and so that they can charge you at every application interaction.

It is a story as old as tech. We build a wonderful open internet based on open standards, so social media companies come in and built a closed network on top of that so that they can control everything. Operating systems have historically been designed by big nerds as relatively open platforms, so what happens? Apple comes along and tries to turn iOS into a closed platform and everyone else comes along and tries to build a closed OS platform (a 'super app'), on top of the existing open platforms.

Super apps and their design is 100% about enriching the controlling company and nothing else.