I agree, but years ago most of us would have said something similar when asked to carry around a device that will track your position everywhere you go. Now we all do that, because smartphones are just so convenient.
I use a Nextcloud app called Memories for my photos. I don’t know if it is one par with Google Photos but it’s good enough for me. There are a few providers that offer managed Nextcloud servers, personally I use the one by Hetzner.
Maybe Apple will have their Balmer moment but, as much as I would like to see that, I don’t expect it any time soon.