I would also say the dimensions of this are different if you're using an Apple iOS or Android.

I would agree with the suggestion above for Apple devices, just pivoting to use bing rather than Google and no hard dependencies on gmail or other western social media, and a few apps pre installed is survivable. If you have a roaming SIM or eSIM then all the friction will go away.

But Android devices that are using the Google play store (virtually all Android devices purchased outside of China) are much more hobbled if they have no access to Google services in China. So some kind of method to keep it connected to Google - preferably a roaming SIM or eSIM for simplicity and no messing around with VPNs - is more important on Android than it is on iOS in my opinion.