> If implemented correctly, "hardware" encryption can be more secure than "free software cryptography".

Well you can use open-source / free software cryptography to encrypt and decrypt using a secret key which you do not need to remember and which is safely stored behind a secure element.

And there are quite a few people doing just that.

It's immensely more secure than trusting Lenovo or Microsoft or whatever company.

And you can have your secret on the secure element protected by biometric auth too (some do offer just that).

And there are devices like that with a tiny attack surface that accept biometric (like your fingerprint) to unlock the secret.

To get the best of both world you trust the HSM with one thing: the secret, and that's it. And you use open-source software and protocols (like GPG and OpenSSH) with that secret.