It's the other way around for me. I refuse to get a phone from my carrier.

Phones "free" with a contract are just disguised loans. The loan is hidden in your monthly sub, which is why you have to be locked from anywhere from 1 to 2 years.

Also I don't want to have carrier bloatware on my phones, and I don't want my phones to be locked to a carrier.

I pay my carrier only for the network. I pay for my phones.