Quiet Rant - can’t upgrade iOS anymore

So my iPad is 6 years old, runs fine. However I can’t seem to upgrade the iOS anymore (to 18.1.1). Why? I no longer have the space to do the upgrade. I’ve got plenty of space (32GB), but not enough now due to the size of the update - over a third of my total HD storage. 2/3 of my total storage are the iOS and system data.” I could delete every app I have (which aren’t terribly many) and still not have enough.

Is this “planned obsolescence?”