...In a way yes, in a way no. A phone that's SMS and Calls only has a few advantages. One is that other apps can't spy on SMS because there aren't other apps to spy on the SMS. The SMS vulnerabilities en-route still exist, sure, but you're no longer being monitored by Apple, Google or anyone else by default.

Sure, the ideal situation is for all of them to get on Signal, XMPP, Briar, SimpleX... fucking roll a D20. They're also more about it due to screen-on time than privacy. I don't think they're of any belief that privacy is even attainable.