Honesty if I were in charge of buying my parents a smartphone I would always go with Apple for the reasons you mention. I remember my wife’s reaction when I bought her an XR and later an Apple Watch, she was astounded at how well they worked together.

My one disagreement would be with Samsung and Apple smart watches. WearOS has come on in leaps and bounds (I had the Moto 360 when it first launched) but Apple is basically untouched in the wrist computer marketplace.