> It is designed to entrap people who don't really think about their tech. […] So rather than transfer to some external storage, as they might not even have a working mental concept of a file system let alone a personal computer that isn't work issued anymore for that matter, they started having to buy bigger and bigger storage capacity iphones.

It is not "entrapping", it's providing a service.

My senior-aged mom does have the skill, nor the desire, to figure out local image storage/backup, and I have no interest in running self-hosted solution (even for myself). Apple providing iCloud for backups is not "entrapping" her.