I cloud

A message saying, "The maximum number of free accounts have been activated on this iPhone" or, "This iPhone has been used to create/setup too many new Apple IDs" is discussed in the support document: If you see a Could Not Create Apple ID or Could Not Set Up iCloud message - Apple Support :

● A "Could Not Create an Apple ID" message means that you have exceeded the number of new Apple IDs you can set up with iCloud on a single device in one year. Try setting up the account on a different device, or on the web:

Create an Apple ID on the web

1. Go to appleid.apple.com and click Create Your Apple ID.

2. Follow the onscreen steps to provide an email address, create a strong password, and set your device region. The email address that you provide will be your new Apple ID.*

3. Enter a phone number that you can always access.

4. Check the boxes to subscribe to Apple Updates if you'd like. This keeps you up to date on the latest news, software, products, and services from Apple.

5. Click Continue.

6. Follow the onscreen steps to verify your email address and phone number.

Note that you can still encounter problems by creating an account on the web. This is mentioned in the last paragraph of this document: How to create a new Apple ID - Apple Support

"If you created a new Apple ID on the web and see a message that you need to sign in to iTunes, follow the steps below for your device. . . " It then asks you to sign into the account on a device itself. Hopefully you will not then encounter a related issue to your first one which is this next "cannot set up" message:

● A "Could Not Set Up iCloud" message means you have created Apple Accounts on certain platforms that need to be set up in iCloud too, but you have reached an annual per-device limit for doing this.

See the recommendations in the link under "What you should do" for using a different device to set up iCloud accounts, using an account that is already set up, or by contacting Apple Support:

Click here --> Choose your country or region - Official Apple Support Select your country, then a product. If you don't see one that handles your issue then keep experimenting with selections until you reach one that gets you a chat session or a telephone call and get the representative to redirect you.

or:

Contact Apple for support and service --> "See a list of Apple phone numbers around the world."

Click here --> Contact Apple for support and service - Apple Support

This happens when a) you try to log into Settings>iCloud (or Apple ID on Catalina and above) using an Apple ID which has not yet created an iCloud account, and b) the device you are doing this on has already been used to create three iCloud accounts. That three is the limit; after that you can't create any more iCloud accounts whatever you do - it's tied to the hardware, not the account, and deleting accounts from it won't make any difference.

Note that an Apple ID, though it may have been used to purchase items from iTunes and to log in here, doesn't have an associated iCloud account until you specifically create one by logging in in Settings (or System Preferences)>iCloud (or Apple ID on Catalina and above).

What you can do is to create a new iCloud account on another iOS device or Mac (not Windows or Android). Once you've done that you can log in to that account on the first device without problems.