Note that, most generally, it is a 10-bit unary flash ADC. Unary meaning bit position or bit count, depending on configuration of course. Having a fully differential REF input (the ends of the resistor divider), it can be used for multiplication and division operations -- very handy, if a bit light on accuracy.
And as a flash ADC, it's quite fast, ~microseconds. Considering a lot of similarly priced, contemporary, [binary] ADCs took 10-100us to convert 8-12 bits, that's really not that awful.
It also has constant current outputs and a crude internal reference, neither of which would be terribly easy to replicate with just an MCU (but which can be dealt with in typical applications). And the current is set by the ref, so...
If you use the output currents to drive a summing node on a transimpedance amplifier, with thermometer coding enabled, you get an implicit DAC as well, so you have a full analog mul/div section (again, if you don't mind that there's an chunky internal quantizer there).
Tim