I suspect it’s for all the usual reasons. They explicitly removed features to create a distinction from higher end models and hit a specific price point. Same reason the iPhone 16 gets archaic file transfer speeds.
Artificial segmentation is definitely part of the reasons. However I would have imagined that potential magsafe accessory sales and the (minor) additional longterm lock-in effect into the ecosystem those provide might be large enough to outweigh the need to cut this particular feature.
The archaic file transfer speeds serve the additional purpose of up selling iCloud storage to customers. Particularly those, who dare to use a windows or Linux PC, which make transferring anything a pain.
I suspect it’s for all the usual reasons. They explicitly removed features to create a distinction from higher end models and hit a specific price point. Same reason the iPhone 16 gets archaic file transfer speeds.
Artificial segmentation is definitely part of the reasons. However I would have imagined that potential magsafe accessory sales and the (minor) additional longterm lock-in effect into the ecosystem those provide might be large enough to outweigh the need to cut this particular feature.
The archaic file transfer speeds serve the additional purpose of up selling iCloud storage to customers. Particularly those, who dare to use a windows or Linux PC, which make transferring anything a pain.