I think they're trying to point it out as Apple being petty and providing a sub-standard experience, however this is exactly how it's worked for a decade for anyone beta testing outside of TestFlight, or using an MDM.
The iPad is new, running the current iPadOS. The iPhone is too old for the current. Is this something they added in 17 for iPhone but not iPad, something they have added but only in Europe, or what?
I think it only shows when an install/update is done without user interaction (e.g. auto-updates, or when you've got "Automatically download purchases" enabled).