But you bring up cell phone processors.
That's because that's what RPis use. Intended to provide an operating system for small, lightweight devices. Design parameters that are totally irrelevant for being able to validate the blockchain. Also no SATA interface which makes a difference since validation is very IO bound. Better a small PC or Intel architecture based SBC. An obsolete dust-laden PC from the shelves of Goodwill would be a better device for those purposes.