Why would anyone call you a luddite for advocating for MicroSDs? Of course the reason SD were pushed away (at least for Apple) was to offer cloud backup as the only option with no alternatives.
Except that no part of what you claim is true:
https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/back-up-iphone-iph3ec...
Yep. I've been using an iPhone since 2012, so about 14 years. I do a local backup to my Macbook and then perform upgrades via USB, I don't do over the air upgrades. I also don't sync my photo albums into iCloud. I do have iCloud backups enabled also. It's not even a concern about privacy, per se, it's a question of whether or not I actually control my data if its not in my possession. More copies is good for resiliency.