...which would now appear to be about 5 years longer than Apple has intentions of supporting the product, as far as the OS is concerned. Again, the hardware outlasts the products Apple provides.Agree. My mid-2009 MBP ... was plenty usable for about 10 years and is still in top physical condition. I'll aim to get 10 years out of the M2 MBA.
Meanwhile, the M1 is now coming up to 2 years old, so maybe those users have got 3 years left before Apple makes them incompatible with whatever OS they release. They may toss a bone afterwards of a couple of security or Safari updates to those who have 'only' got a M1, but they'll certainly be encouraging developers to support their current - not 'old' - devices.
The upshot is it may encourage users (especially with the price hikes) to say 'Screw it', stick with the OS that came with the machine and find 3rd Party products that continue to work as advertised. 'Plenty usable for about 10 years', is a compelling argument.
As noted elsewhere on this thread - Macs are not iPhones. Users shouldn't feel obliged to keep 'upgrading' every couple of years to keep up with the whims of Apple. It kinda reminds me of that era of Windows machines where you really needed to update every 18 months or so to keep up with the OS versions and their hardware demands.
But Apple long ago lost the right to make fun of the corporate behaviour and needs of Microsoft.