They absolutely didn't miss it -- it was definitely a conscious decision to prevent "pro" users from buying a cheaper MacBook Air and instead get them to purchase the more expensive 14/16" M2 MacBook Pro (whenever it comes out).
Because the vast majority of laptop users don’t use multiple displays. If you need that, go to the Pro chips.
They too, don't allow for multiple external displays.
How do you figure? I have a 16 inch MBP right here running two external displays and the internal and none are mirrored displays
Thats an _intel_ mac. Or are you on the M1 super duper max everything?
The M1 Macbook Pros (not the 13") support up to 2 external displays for the M1 Pro and up to 4 for the M1 Max
Which would be fair at like $500. But at $1000+ it's a bit ridiculous when basically every PC laptop in the price range and even Apple's own prior Intel MBAs could do 2+ external displays. It's not like you really need insane levels of CPU/GPU to show a word processor on one monitor and a web browser on the other.