Yes- many/most colleges use unweighted grades, but I agree that if you are applying to academically selective colleges you want to show rigor in your class choices. You might have a fantastic GPA in all regular classes, but colleges see that your school offered 20+ AP classes - they are going to wonder why you didn’t take them, and what that says about you as a student. Now, it’s not like you have to take every AP out there- my D only took 1 AP in both science and math - but she was able to show that her classes got progressively more challenging (which I would say is particularly important- to go from AP English in 11th grade to regular English in 12th would be a red flag to many selective schools), and she took multiple APs in other subjects.
As with all other things- know your list. There are TONS of great programs where this won’t matter at all- but there are others where it will.