I’m not interested in their phones but I have to admit that I like the home screen design.
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I’ve used Samsung phones until the Galaxy Note 4 (when I switched to Apple in 2016 with a 6s+) and… well, their UIs did look nice, but they were horribly inconsistent and buggy. Samsung did have lots of great ideas in their phones, and they were not afraid to experiment (to this day, I still miss not having a pen to scribble on my phone). Problem is, execution was often not up to par, and some solutions you really liked were discontinued because they did not stick with the mass audience. That’s one of the reasons that made me switch: I trust that Apple sticks to its solutions and will not leave me with a broken workflow. But I do wish they would be a tad more adventurous sometimes 
The funny thing is, on Android there is no such thing as the home screen design. 
That’s what makes is so nice IMHO. You can change it to look whatever you want.
As for Samsung quality: I’m on my second Samsung phone now (S10, previously S8) and haven’t had any issues.
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I loved having my full, and transparent, calendar on my home screen with my Note10. Apple talks about a “personalized” experience but falls far short with the iOS home screen.
Mmmmmm, old HTC.
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From whom at Apple are you quoting “personalized”?
At any rate, personalization for Apple never meant anyone could have complete flexibility to make any UI elements look any way they wanted. Part of Apple’s success is that it gives options based on its taste.
Apple Watch faces are an interesting example where you have a multitude of options based on a limited number of curated, internally-designed faces, in what is probably the most user-customizable UI Apple has released in decades. You can also look to Apple’s lockdown of UI elements in Mac OS X, a reaction to OS 7-9 allowing all sorts of hideous 3rd-party skins.
A 2015 NEW YORKER profile of Jonny Ive offers this telling exchange.
In one of our conversations, Ive was scathing about a rival’s product, after asking me not to name it: “Their value proposition was ‘Make it whatever you want. You can choose whatever color you want.’ And I believe that’s abdicating your responsibility as a designer.”
(It was later revealed that he was referring to Motorola’s much-advertised [and soon to be discontinued failure] Moto Maker user-choosable phone mods.)
Apples marketing campaign was that these devices were personal.
I liked being able to change my home screen around and I wish Apple would find an Apple way to change up their 13 year old home screen design.
That’s just my opinion.
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I think you’re complaining about not getting something that wasn’t promised.
I agree — even a baby step of sticking with the grid, but allowing me to put icons on that grid wherever I want. That would be nice!
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