Profit just seems like TOO easy of an answer. Apple's an exception in some ways. They absolutely will do things out of spite. They hate admitting they're wrong and take as long as possible to fix UX flaws as a result. And sometimes the bad UX is a result of some misguided mission. Instead of cost cutting, it's just as plausible to me apple removed things because they have a fetish for minimalism and miniaturization.