I can certainly see it being useful in instances where running a long patch cable might be impractical or not possible, to connect a device to the internet for a short period of time. E.g. a set-top box that is ethernet only but has a software update available (assuming it cannot be delivered OTA)
I'm just not sure if any phone manufacturer had the functionality baked into their software version until now - it feels like a very niche use-case so I wouldn't expect it. I guess now that mobile OS's are reaching parity then these more nice-to-have features are being considered to be included.