Apple never says iPad 2019 on their website, until you start digging really hard.
Vendors want version numbers to push upgrades to consumers. They don't want to deal with demand forcasting for something with a limited time of life though.
Nobody said that they have to make that versioning public and shout it from the rooftops.
Users do use the informal versioning that I mentioned, because otherwise they wouldn't be able to differentiate the products. I've heard "MacBook Pro 2015" a million times.
And a date <<is>> a version number. It also nicely auto-increments to prove to your customers that the latest thing is better than the old one.
Doodad Pro, 2021 edition. It's not that hard, as I was saying.
The alternative is the garbage that everyone is doing. WH-1000XM3, really?!?
And product lines are speced 12 months in advance.
So you need precise demand prediction all the way along your supply chain for this to work.