Apple said they were going to keep releasing Intel-based Macs for a while: "Apple will continue to support and release new versions of macOS for Intel-based Macs for years to come, and has exciting new Intel-based Macs in development."
You are misinterpreting your own quote. Apple releasing new versions of macOS for Intel Macs for years to come and having exciting new Intel Macs in development DOES NOT mean that Apple will keep releasing Intel-based Macs for a while. AT MOST, you're going to get another two years of Intel Macs. But once an ARM Mac is released, its Intel-based predecessor will be discontinued with no Intel based replacement. This probably means that the 16" MacBook Pro and the Mac Pro (and possibly the iMac Pro) will have another year or two being sold with an Intel chip before ultimately being replaced once and for all with a model containing an ARM chip.
There are Intel Macs in the pipeline still. Apple likely doesn't have chips to overtake the higher-end Macs just yet (plus, developers of the software typically needed on higher-end machines, like $1000+ video plugins, will need more time), so a few of those will be Intel until Apple's A-series can handily overtake them in performance. But everything past that will be ARM only. Apple has been supporting Intel Macs for new macOS releases for a good seven years after release (with two additional thereafter for security patch support), that will likely maintain after the final Intel Mac has been released. But that will be it. That's how transitions go.
Apple were very clear in the same keynote that new Intel Macs are still coming in the next few years and the follow-up public interviews as well.
Apple never said that Intel Macs are still coming over the course of the next "few" years. They said that the transition as a whole will take two. This doesn't mean that every model in Apple's current lineup is getting an Intel-based refresh. In fact, the current rumors suggest that the 13" MacBook Pro will get refreshed with an A-series chip and that the Intel based 13" MacBook Pro models will all get discontinued, effectively ending that model's run with Intel processors.
You're going to see Intel models linger for the higher-end models for which there might be a compatibility need (16" MacBook Pro and Mac Pro are likely candidates for this). But those models will very likely not be refreshed at that point.
What honestly is the point of still releasing intel Macs now?
The ARM equivalent chip is likely not ready. That's why the 13" MacBook Pro is rumored to be going first. The A12X can easily best the performance of every 13" MacBook Pro (or Air for that matter) that has ever existed. The A12Z just adds a graphics core to that. So, it would make sense for that machine to make the jump first as the SoC they're likely to put into it should be way more powerful.
When Apple transitioned to Intel, the initial hardware releases retained the same design as the PowerPC models. I’m expecting them to stick to that strategy.
They did that for MOST of the systems making the jump. In the case of the 12" PowerBook G4, they just outright killed that with no real replacement while merging the two sizes of iBook G4 into a whole new design that became the first MacBooks. I wouldn't be surprised to see them do something similar here, especially with the iMacs and the Mac minis.