Browsers were able to block pop-ups because websites used to open another browser window to display ads. Modern websites use modals using CSS and JavaScript within their page canvas.
It's hard to block them deterministically by the browser. Though uBlock Origin and NoScript can block almost all these annoyances.
Safari (desktop and mobile) also has tracker blocking built in. "Prevent cross-site tracking" and "Hide IP address from trackers" are two settings it has; I think the first is checked by default, I don't remember about the other.
In the DevTools network pane, it shows requests to known trackers, like Google Tag Manager, being blocked.
Try using Amazon in Safari sometime (in Lockdown Mode, no less): non-stop ads (some which flash), sponsored results dominating the first page of search, random Dufus pop-ups forcing AI. You can hide "distracting" elements but they just appear again later. Safari is not a user-friendly browser.
Safari is my default browser. I don't know what "Dufus" means, I don't recall any A.I. references. On Amazon, it's all first-party stuff, what browser blocks that natively? It seems like you're comparing using Safari without an ad blocker to a different browser with an ad blocker.
I know the most popular ad blocking extensions don't make a Safari version but there are ad blockers for Safari.
I don't get any of that in Safari or any other browser. "Rufus" is just a button in the main navigation, between "All" and "Same-day delivery" that I ignore. On individual product pages, there's "Ask Rufus" stuff in a couple of pages but it's no worse than other content I scroll past and seems just like previous features that didn't have a named AI identity.
It's hard to block them deterministically by the browser. Though uBlock Origin and NoScript can block almost all these annoyances.