I'd caution about being presumptive about other users cases in this regard. Admittedly, I do code so it is an absolute deal breaker for me for so many use cases. Be even for use cases that are not related to that, iPad OS falls so short for me. I recall trying to fill out some PDF paperwork a while ago for some business things. I really tried to force myself to use my iPad for every aspect of that process, but honestly I had a hard time doing things that Preview on macOS has been able to do forever. Eventually for one or two parts I just gave up and used macOS.
It might be the case that many or most of what people want to do can be accomplished on iPad, but the amount of friction introduced doing it was a deal breaker for me. I know iPadOS well, but the desktop metaphor with a proper windowing system is really hard to beat 40 years later.
So instead of trying to make the iPad something it is not great at, and Apple doesn't seem like they want to do (I mean where is an equivalent of Preview 14 years in?), I lean in and do things on my iPad that it's great at. If I need to whip up a quick illustration or doodle something, that's an iPad job. And it's better at it. If something needs to run in the background, that's a Mac job. And it's better at it.
For me and what I do that's a mini, but I can definitely see where a larger iPad (Even one larger than they currently make) could be awesome.