Earlier quoted context omitted.
This year definitely because of the EU mandate. It will probably still be nerfed like the low end iPad that has USB C. But still transfers at USB 2 speeds
As long as it has DP alt-mode for HDMI, I'm happy. Unlike Lightning that doesn't do that, so they package a full h264 decoder into that HDMI adapter. The USB 2 thing is probably like the Raspberry Pi 4: the SoC only supports 2.0. Older iPads and the Pi4 have a full USB 3.0 controller external to the SoC. Apple likes to re-use the previous year's SoC and no point doing USB 3.0 before. I could see the pro models doing…
That would be interesting, but like you alluded to it would likely require out-of-SoC tech for the existing A-series chips.