Unless you simply don't trust Apple's security promises (in which case why are you using Apple devices), iCloud backup is now E2EE encrypted [1]. A bit of wringing to turn it on, but totally worthwhile.
There are differences between iCloud and local backup. For example, iCloud backup doesn’t backup your Notes or Health data but local backup can. Sync != backup — without a backup, if you sync a bad change you’ve lost the data.
Both of these are stored in iCloud (if you enable) and are backed up in the cloud (and E2EE). All other large repositories of data are not sourced from my Apple devices
I think they do, but my guess is that most people don't keep their phones long enough for that to be the reason to stop using the phone. Usually the phones get damaged/lost/too slow to run modern apps etc.
Whatever I please. It's irrelevant what I may use it or not use it for.
The point is that the technology now is far past USB 2 (and has been for some time despite Apple's persistence on using Lightning with such slower speeds) and the only reason they have for not putting USB 3 in the 15s (non-Pro) is greed. They were forced by the EU to convert to USB-C, so it looks to me as if they did the absolute minimal amount of work and effort to be any more consumer-friendly than they have to be.
You are attributing malice, but they explained things pretty clearly in the presentation.
They are reusing the SoC of the 14 pro in the 15 (as they always do), which doesn't support USB 3. On the 15 pro they have support for USB 3, and you can bet it will propagate down the iPhone line next year.
The state of the current extraction-based economy is such that you have to differentiate Apple's greed (less cutting edge usually, costs more) vs Google's greed (wants to track you all the time).
I'd rather the up-front greed that may force me to pay for a Pro model rather than the ongoing & increasing greed.
Maybe not "malice" exactly, but Apple has been obnoxiously anti-USB-3 on iPhones for many years. Not only could they have planned ahead for the port change, they could have been supporting it over the lightning port.
It was especially bad when they added prores without a way to offload footage at a reasonable speed.
And there probably is an element of spite where they don't want the upgrade to USB 3 to come too directly aligned with the USB C switch.
I don’t do it frequently, but when I do I want it to take as short a time as possible.