True, not because it's 2019 but due to Project Treble's GenericSystemImages that cleanly separate OEM (Samsung, Sony, Lenovo) and silicon-vendor (Broadcom, Qualcomm, Mediatek) related blobs from the Android subsystem, such that the Android bits could be changed or updated independent of vendor support.
Even a cursory glance at some of the sections on XDA or a search for '2019' and 'brick a mobile' will reveal that they are not mutually exclusive events.
I meant to completely brick a mobile. As a newbie, it's possible to get into a boot loop, a black screen, etc. which are easy to recover events, but might seem as the end of the world.
I even remember having to short two pins in the motherboard of my mobile to recover from a particularly bad brick. And it worked fine.
But a complete brick, as in you have to throw away your mobile? Impossible, I'd say.
https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2018/11/an-update-...