To work as part of a reasonably secure platform that still allows people to develop on it and responsibly sell consumer hardware based on it, yes, it's necessary.
If you don't use the "happy path" builds, the choice is yours, and the consequences are your own. Simple as.
Just do things properly - it only has to be done by the vendor anyway, and no one else needs to touch it.
To work as part of a reasonably secure platform that still allows people to develop on it and responsibly sell consumer hardware based on it, yes, it's necessary.