[jyl]

If I were cynical, I'd speculate that Apple and other smartphone makers are not in a big hurry to provide an easy way for users to flush the "Other System Storage".

Don't get me wrong, I like iPhones a lot. Just bought my daughter an iPhone 12 mini for the e-sim feature, so she can have both her French and US SIMs active. But I try to keep our old iPhones going for as long as practical, and the only problem I have with this rather-aged iPhone XR is the storage filling up.