No you don't. You've always been able to take an M4A file (MP4 AAC), rename the extension to be M4R and copy it to your iTunes library.

You can even prepare ringtones on your phone with the iOS version of GarageBand.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/120692

I don’t remmener the exact steps, but it was fairly easy. You just need a mac (which you can borrow) and an audio editor. But that’s been a few years as I’ve been using the same one for a while now.

> You just need a mac (which you can borrow)

Yeah, so only-iPhone users are out of luck since the majority of people don't have a Mac. Last time I used Android you needed the file and the phone itself, you select the audio file and you're done.

You can do it on your phone with GarageBand. Take any audio file, clip it to the desired portion, export as ringtone.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/120692

Maybe you can use iTunes on Windows? I haven't use the latter in a long time, but IIRC, it was just adding the file and syncing it to the iPhone.