There's more than just photo syncing in iCloud for Windows. It's an iDevice backup sync. It can be used to sync files with any app that supports the Files app (and even some that don't but supported certain older app-specific file folders). It does some Apple Keychain syncing with Edge. It does some Contacts sync and backup. It can do some account recovery help if you don't have handy access to another iOS or macOS device but have been signed into iCloud for Windows for long enough.
> That's exclusively iTunes (or soon the Apple Devices Windows 11 app), if I remember correctly.
To my understanding: wired backups are still done in iTunes (or the new Apple Devices app), but if you want an on-premises copy of a wireless iCloud backup you'd copy it from iCloud for Windows. Though glancing at it now I don't see that option/how to do it so either my understanding is wrong or I briefly glimpsed an A/B test at some point or I'm confusing something I saw on a different device than Windows.
