I've had Android phones since 2010 and none of them have ever installed anything by themselves.
Many Android phones install a ton of apps at the end of the initial setup - stuff like FB, LI, Spotify, Microsoft OneDrive, etc.
While that's true those things are added in by the vendors rather than Android itself, is my understanding.
Yes and anyone who is actually bothered by the bloatware (I've switched to Android for a decade or so) can look up what adb can do (or cough up a few $ and buy some convenient alternative like ADB AppContro - just keep it firewalled). Every new Android device I get goes through a serious bloatware-removal phase before I let it hit the internet. Then the battery lasts so much longer, there are no notifications, etc. A bliss!!
That's because of the vendors and not the OS. Easy to avoid by choosing a decent vendor, all my Android phones the last decade have been Motorola Moto G series because of Android one. No bloat, the only bundled app is to add functionality such as gestures for flashlight/camera and I love it.
Yup, every "security update" on my Samsung Verizon phone installs at least 3 crap games. Every single time.
Which apps did you get? Deliveroo or that Tetris clone? I got Google Lens and Zalando. </jest>