I thought the same thing (got one for a gf), but since the introduction of pointer support in iPadOS, I look at the kinds of things most folks with the 12” book

I thought the same thing (got one for a gf), but since the introduction of pointer support in iPadOS, I look at the kinds of things most folks with the 12” books do (word processing, light spreadsheets, web), and I think Apple is correctly betting that that market is going for iPads with keyboard/trackpad folios now.