I don’t see it that way. I’ve had arthritis on my right hand’s fingers, it didn’t in the slightest make it harder to pick a bike up but would have made riding very painful had it been on the left hand’s fingers. Had it not gotten better I would have no doubt about having something like that now.
I do think you’re right partially, it’s a gimmick to provide a novelty factor to be talked about and help justify increasing prices, but at the same time demographics mean most bikers tend to be older and this richer than when most bikers were young.