After todays upgrade unlock screen does not work anymore

[ak42]

With several users confirming the issue, I just wonder why images still do not get any testing before being released?

They do, the image I flashed worked approximately well.
But the updates on another hand broke the environment. knowing that this is still a work in progress, things like this can be expected.
If you want to keep the image's stability, just don't update until a new major release.

Although I do value the time and effort of developers I must say that this proves contempt of the users time and interest

There is absolutely no contempt...

The user as you say it, should be aware what they are buying... Manjaro phosh is still in heavy development, done by the manjaro community and by the librem developers/community, and all this for free. not by Pine64.
You may want to complain against Pine64, but it is just useless. They are just building the hardware and maybe providing support to developers.

You may not agree with Pine64's model, but you shouldn't have bought this phone in the first place if you wanted something 100% stable. I think Pine64 have always been clear about the fact that the software is done by the community. Just read the pinephone page:

The purpose of the PinePhone isn’t only to deliver a functioning Linux phone to end-users, but also to actively create a market for such a device, as well as to support existing and well established Linux-on-Phone projects. All major Linux Phone-oriented projects, as well as other FOSS OS’, are represented on the PinePhone and developers work together on our platform to bring support this this community driven device.

Just be patient, and wait for a fix. Or just buy a new phone, because the pinephone is not going to be super stable just yet.