I've heard stories that people just bypass this all the time at earlier stage tech-startups and this eliminates a 6 month interview process of like 8 rounds of interviews and usually you can close within a month or right way.
Google let me skip their phone screen every time I interviewed with them: I had neither referrals nor leverage during each attempt.
I've seen people go straight to onsite for FAANG-level companies before, but it's pretty rare. I imagine it will be even rarer in this economy. Regardless, I think you should still try, especially if it's a close friend who can deeply vouch for your ability and has a good relationship with their hiring manager.
Here are the reasons I've seen people jump straight to onsite:
I've been fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of the 2nd one. I've gotten direct onsite offers for companies like Uber and Block because of my side projects. However, I have multiple Android side projects with 500,000+ users, so this isn't something most engineers are able to replicate.