I installed another camera app a couple of months after getting the phone, which allows me to do that. The phone has essentially replaced my Fuji x100t for one project, mostly because of its wide angle lens.

AFAIA the default camera app doesn't allow you to shoot in RAW, it doesn't even give you the fundamental manual expsure controls, and that's part of my point - the defaults are designed to make it easy and make the photos look good on the phone, which is what 99% of users want.

I'm absolutely fine with that, BTW, but it's rather frustrating that the out of the box camera app doesn't include the ability to control the three fundamental exposure factors. Not even hidden behind an "advanced" setting or anything.

The system camera app isn't meant for people who want manual controls. It's the modern version of a Polaroid. The way it works is fundamentally incompatible with manual controls, and adding a separate manual mode would confuse the vast majority of people who have no interest in advanced photography.

I'd argue the other way - the camera on modern phones is a massive selling point, I know many people that choose their phone based on it. It therefore makes sense that the out of the box should include manual controls somewhere as an option.

I know Apple like to push the whole "shot on an iPhone" thing, and they want to make sure the default app is giving the "best" quality. So maybe that's the reason they don't include them?

And to take your analogy further - I have a Polaroid 195, it has full manual controls. Of course, it was aimed at pro photographers who wanted those controls, and sold at a premium.

And to prove my point, if you ask someone old enough to remember a Polaroid camera to describe it, they'll describe the SX-70. It was revolutionary for how it put photography into the hands of non-photographers. The 195 doesn't even warrant a footnote in history.