Is it really that infeasible to just make all identical ports behave identically?
My parents have a story about how at age 6 I moved our Apple IIGS into my bedroom. They were more bewildered than angry. The one thing I remember is my older brother saying how because every port was uniquely shaped even a child can set up an Apple.
(It’s a limitation of the I/O bandwidth on the M1, which makes me wonder why they didn’t wait for a new generation before building desktops with it. Maybe they were afraid of having no iMacs on the shelf since the old ones were discontinued?)
These are entry-level iMacs and the majority of potential buyers will be fine with the port selection. It's probably not worth delaying an important device like the iMac for such a relatively minor downside. That said, I'm personally waiting for the larger iMac (Pro?) which won't feature such limitations.