I’m based in the US and that’s where I used my Huawei phone until recently. OnePlus is among the manufacturers that still do IR blasters, and it looks like the OnePlus 12 has one and is easily purchased from their US store page.
As far as I can tell Samsung hasn’t released a phone with an IR blaster since 2015 either. Essentially, IR and Samsung hasn’t been a thing for a long time. If we are going by total volume then I would agree that the most common manufacturer in the US that has/had IR is Samsung. If we are going by new phones available today, then Samsung isn’t even in the conversation.
I’m not entirely sure what this comment is in relation to yours, I don’t think I disagree with you, I think I’m just adding some context or nuance.
I live in the US (granted I watch a lot of UK content) and even my first reaction at reading the headline was along the lines of “then fucking pay/fund them instead of setting them up to fail!”