It’s possible it’s an enhancement for the masses where a smill minority of experienced photographers are just pooped on. Apple is known to shove a decision in your face at times only to add a setting later to disable that. I still accidentally enable live photos by accident and I wish I could remove that altogether in the settings. Im still on the old SE and luckily photos aren’t post processed

All modern smartphones use computational photography to enhance and process your images. The sensor is too small and the lens just not good enough to not do it.