I agree with your second paragraph. The Librem 5 isn't just a "Linux phone", and Purism is trying to build an ecosystem with strong expectations of privacy and end-user control, which is something we don't have today.
If all you want is a "Linux phone", you could buy a PinePhone for $150 or work on porting postmarketOS to an Android phone. The Librem 5 clearly has higher ambitions and could prove to be a more mass-market product.
If all you want is a "Linux phone", you could buy a PinePhone for $150 or work on porting postmarketOS to an Android phone. The Librem 5 clearly has higher ambitions and could prove to be a more mass-market product.