Yeah I know they know the market better than myself, but I can't help think that there'd be plenty enough folk that would appreciate a stills only line, especially if they were 2/3 price for example. A Stills only R5 at £3k would be much more appealing and affordable than the 'hybrid' R5. Likewise my A7RIV, I gladly sacrifice the video if the camera was £500 or so cheaper.
I would say the hybrid market is exceeding the stills only market by a large margin these days so theres not much incentive for a manufacturer to make 2 models of the same camera. There are models for every budget and its not in their interest to pay the R&D for video on say an A7mkiv then just deactivate it in the same camera and sell it cheaper as stills only when the manufacturing cost is still the same. You would gladly sacrifice the video at a lower pricepoint but it didnt stop you from buying the camera anyway and thats probably how they see it.