Well yeah, nowadays high-end micro-controllers may have an integrated USB HS PHY (notably STM32F7's and the MIMXRT1060 used in Teensy 4, and many others), but the basic cheap attiny-like or ice40-like hasn't and most usually require going through an external PHY. I've been wanting to get into using the CH32V305 cause it is in a hand-solder-friendly TSSOP-20 package and has integrated USB HS PHY but I hear it doesn't have a software support and I don't see it on microchip/digikey/etc. Though we may soon have easy access to 20-cent microcontrollers with USB HS, but still the protocol feels incredibly complex and way overkill for simply interfacing a peripheral to a computer.