I'm not sure what your definition of "cinematic universe" is, but for me it means "within the films it exists in the same universe".Sony doesn't give a crap about having Morbius or Venom meet the Avengers or the Eternals or whatever they do next, they want to eventually implement Spider-Man or make MCU Spider-Man films with the inclusion of those characters. They want Tom Holland Spidey, no one else, and by default they would be connected to the MCU.
You are arguing not having rights to show certain MCU things and characters as proof its not part of the MCU, but that is something entirely different.
If this film is not in the same universe as all the other stuff that exists within the MCU, then in my view it is not in the MCU.
There are minor inconsistencies between MCU films, but for the most part they are extremely consistent. Stuff like the suit totally changing would be a huge continuity snafu for the MCU.
Maybe this film or another film is going to explain where Stark Tower has gone, but I very much doubt it.
I am pretty sure the terms between Marvel and Sony have specifically prevented explicitly making Sony's movies part of the MCU (Feige's language even suggested such), so Sony are just doing as much as they can to imply a connection without breaching the agreement terms.
It could be some kind of parallel universe, offshoot universe or whatever, but it's not the same thing.
Not sure what's so hard to understand about this.
Edit: and yes I am well aware Sony cares little about anything but short term profits. They already poisoned the well twice over, and I doubt going for a hat trick is beyond them.