I understand where you’re coming from, lobsterghost1.
However, I’ve had iPads for over a Decade before obtaining an iPhone (my daughter bought me one just a couple of months ago).
I have been quite happy with all my iPads, even though they could share no Apps with my (less than) smart phones (including a couple before getting an Android phone). I simply use them for different purposes.
Of course, I have been happiest, with any phone (even compared to a Samsung I was lent for about a year), with my iPhone 11, now. (Yes, it was nice to be able to answer my iPhone, from across the room, without getting up, but I have usually had my phones nearby, so there has been no such need, before.)