Well, my understanding is that some theories of physics predict the existence of monopoles, and some say they can't exist. Finding a real monopole would have an impact on our understanding of physical reality, whereas this is more like an incredibly impressive engineering achievement right? (I could be misunderstanding what the researchers have done)

Yeah, it seems like it doesn’t break theory, but it’s a potentially useful product instead, and folks are disappointed.

They are very different. These are just emergent magnetic charge distributions in certain materials. Real north and south particles would be like magnetic ions. Really weird batteries and magnetic circuits would become possible.