No, it doesn’t require one… but you won’t be downloading anything from their App Store without one, leaving your only option for getting software onto it “Xcode after you build it yourself” since there’s no side loading. Xcode’s ability to do that may require an Apple ID or developer account; I’m unsure.

In the EU, the requirement to support alternative app stores would probably mostly fix that, but those of you in the US are kinda…

Thank you. I'm in neither the EU nor US. I'll have to check this.