This is true. Without a valid credit card and/or PayPal, you cannot set up an Apple ID even if only for the free updates to the operating system and/or free apps in their store(s).

This is often a rallying point against Apple by those that find this requirement disgusting or unnecessary; if not both. It's become the same for Windows as well whereas that is not a requirement on any Linux distro (for the most part - I'm sure some example exists) as of yet.

The whole "require a login" by Jolla is somewhat off-putting to those that hate this kind of corporate behavior.

So to pull this all together, do any other Linux devices require an account?