Better configurability which would let the author decide whether they want a calendar or a straight date input. Though I'm not sure iOS even supports a calendar-less date input anymore.

This is what the "date" control looked before iOS 14: https://i.stack.imgur.com/ms5tX.png

Rolling back the entire "flat" shit would probably be a good idea: before iOS 7, the control was functionally similar but had a lot more visual affordances: https://www.andyibanez.com/img/date_picker_pre_7.png

It was much clearer that the central shade is an index, and that the three fields are separate wheels. The iOS 7 picker makes it much subtler by simulating curvature, and the new sub-selector (year-month) does the same and makes the index kinda even worse by outlining it in an abstract shape: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/6268177/209607212-...