There are no ESC and Function keys in iOS/iPadOS (and I haven't read that iOS/iPadOS 14 will include them), so just what OS and software would be compatible with such a layout, and how would you run it? Are you looking for a row of mapable keys? Fine, I guess, but it doesn't seem like a particularly good out-of-box experience - "We've given you all these keys, now figure out what you can do with them!"
Let's say that out-of-box it was just like a Mac keyboard - increase/decrease brightness (F1, F2), App Switcher (F3, roughly equivalent to Mission Control), Home Screen (F4, roughly equivalent to Launchpad, which was meant to give Mac the equivalent of a Home screen anyway), Skip Back/Play-Pause/Skip Forward (F7-F9), Mute/Volume Down/Volume Up (F10-F12)... I don't use the Function Row on Mac except for the brightness and volume controls. Nope, I wouldn't pay extra.
This might sound more plausible for the day when Apple Silicon Macs have been released and Mac apps start being ported to iOS/iPadOS - if the Mac version uses the Function row, then why not iPad? Under those conditions, the Function row should also be available in the virtual keyboards - context-sensitive, of course - if there are no Function row keys assigned, then Function row wouldn't appear.
Let's say that happened. Shouldn't it work exactly like the Touch Bar does on a Mac laptop (context sensitive, virtual sliders, etc.)? Wasn't that the point of Touch Bar in the first place, to make the under-used Function Row more context-adaptable? In other words, why should Apple embrace a physical function row on iOS after years of going in the opposite direction (touchscreen/adaptable Function Row) on Mac?
