It doesn't help that Apple was pretty much hiding that they still sold them. They were not discoverable through the site or most Apple stores. You have to use the search or ask someone about it, respectively. They were pivoting away from it first.
Which is a pretty reasonable way to manage a phase-out, and points to one of the many advantages Apple holds in controlling the retail relationship with their customers: They can heavily de-emphasize a product they want to be rid of, and measure how much effort people will go to to still track it down, or whether those customers end up upgraded to iPhone or the various iPad options— including "mini" ones that aren't even all that much bigger than a modern iPhone Max.
It doesn't help that Apple was pretty much hiding that they still sold them. They were not discoverable through the site or most Apple stores. You have to use the search or ask someone about it, respectively. They were pivoting away from it first.