> About HDR on phones, I think they are the blight of photography. No more shadows and highlights.

HDR is what enables you to capture both the darkest shadow detail and the brightest highlight detail.

With SDR, one or both are often simply just lost. It might come down to preference — if you're an "auto" shooter and like the effect of the visual information at the edges of the available dynamic range being truncated, SDR is for you.

Some people prefer to capture that detail and have the ability to decide whether and how to diminish or remove it, with commensurately more control over the artistic impact. For those folks, HDR is highly desirable.