Purchasing a new phone is only a small subset of the scenarios where a backup is useful, for example, in the last two years Apple support has requested that I r

Purchasing a new phone is only a small subset of the scenarios where a backup is useful, for example, in the last two years Apple support has requested that I reset my phone and reinstall iOS twice. Having to buy a second phone to temporarily store my data is not a viable alternative. Or losing your phone. Or accidentally breaking it. Or having it stolen. A backup protects my data in these situations where a transfer utility does not. Backups disabled by default would be a sensible approach, but is very much being childish not to let users access their own data.