I think the way it works in the real world unfortunately is:

code bloat => "your phone is full" => "oh, my phone is too old" => new iphone => free space => code bloat

That said, I also delete bulky apps before I start deleting media.

Yeah it is a problem, and so far the way most companies fixed this issue is by releasing a 'lite' version which of course is probably not feature complete but will be significantly faster to update and load.

If you are on a good network you probably won't ever notice such bloat until you run out of disk space or bust your download limit (Canada)

If I find an app to be too big for my taste I normally fall back to the web version if it exist at all but even then its hit or miss because sometimes the web app is pure complete garbage or worse than the app itself.

I think it is unlikely that most people care and the improved analytics and development speed is probably worth it. My android is connected to wifi almost 24/7, so it doesn't matter how long it takes up update.