Exactly, they have appeal to people independent of technical skill; hence my hypothesis that they make sure to emphasize the things that are more likely to resonate with larger groups of people (like emoji) rather than things like Project Treble or a "native C/C++ API for high-performance audio", even if the former really have little to due with the OS itself.

If we're going down that route, it's also worth noting that "old people" such as GP referred to also can like emoji; my parents and grandparents enjoy using emoji.