A little rant about the Android operating system @android
Everyone felt weird when I said I was using custom ROMs. Most of them haven't heard about anything beyond stock android. I wrote a blog trying to normalise it. https://text.tchncs.de/czars-blogs/custom-roms-and-my-phone
Depends on the circle of people you're talking to... I'm not buying any phone without custom ROM support. And haven't done so in ages. I know several other people who've used LineageOS, GrapheneOS or Calyx at some point. I wouldn't say it's normal, but definitely not a unicorn encounter either. Just embrace it. You're a hacker now. Maybe this is a good thing. (Most certainly.)
I feel I should also say, times changed. Back in the day it was either impossible to run a Custom ROM because of some locked bootloader. Or it'd run perfectly smooth. Sometimes you'd be running a ROM of some 15 yo because that's the last person supporting that device. Today some things have changed. Security works differently. Lots of people use things like NFC payment that doesn't work that well without stock. More and more stuff has moved into the proprietary Google services. Cameras have become super complicated and AI enhanced. Running a Custom ROM feels very different from what it was 8 years ago. If you own one of the well-supported devices anyways. Because that was always an issue.
I wish this stuff was a little more mainstream. Part of it is simply self-interest: there would be more unlockable devices and fewer app developers trying to block their apps from running on third-party ROMs if more people ran them.
Part of it is I think that would be a better world. Big tech would have a bit less power. Devices would last longer.