They do, but not at the level that Samsung, Google and the rest does. Main difference is that Apple does not sell what they collect.

I need a working, synchronized, ecosystem that is safe, reliable and that does not steal my data (harvest). As long as Apple can provide that I will not even look at other solutions

Then don’t, just don’t.

Get it to a repair shop, it’s almost impossible to say what might be broken since it’s been exposed to heat.

Without being able to log in to the account you can’t. Not with “Find my …”.

Same here - a made a bug report to Apple.