This is apples strategy across the whole of their product portfolio. Make a cheaper crippled base device, and a model with higher specs just within reach of tha

This is apples strategy across the whole of their product portfolio. Make a cheaper crippled base device, and a model with higher specs just within reach of that price so that most people will upgrade because 'why not?'. If they just made the base model have half decent specs, a lot less people would upgrade to the higher end models.