With only iOS and Android as realistic choices, we genuinely need a more viable (real) Linux phone soon. I have zero faith that Google will let something like GrapheneOS stay in the somewhat usable state that it is in now.
We don't need "real linux" phone, we already have mobile OS based on linux, it's called Android. You can decouple it from Google, companies already do that, it works. Whether an Android phone without Google services is a viable product is another discussion - and IMO the one we should focus on.