> The end result is a vastly simplified backend

GraphQL specs offer none to zero of the following:

- caching

- authentication, authorization and handling data access

- protections against ad-hoc arbitrarily nested and complex queries

- routing

How does this “vastly simplify the backend”? If anything, it makes the backend hideously complex (IIRC Apollo’s approach to caching is parsing requests and responses every time, do some magic, and handle caching manually).