I agree that removing the magnifying glass was a terrible idea, but what's befuddling about selecting text?
The biggest loss for me on newer devices is 3D touch, since that's the best way to select text quickly and easily.
Try getting the cursor after tapping the Safari address bar with a long URL.
On many websites it will zoom around unpredictably.
Very awkward to select specific text in Notes etc. sometimes, especially around links and other clickable items.
They've actually made it worse in a way by removing the magnifying glass, but at least the new copy/paste/cut swipe gestures are handy, if a little odd on smaller screens.