When was the last time you used an iPad and the Files app? It seems like your view is somewhat outdated. It's true that in the early years the Files app was very basic. But there were some significant improvements introduced around iPadOS 15. As of iPadOS 17 it is a far more robust app that is much closer to the Mac's Finder in terms of visual design and features.
I regularly manage thousands of files in nested folders of website projects as well as Affinity Publisher documents in nested project folders, each with hundreds of linked asset files. And this also includes regular use of local network drives, external drives and sftp accounts for websites.
And many apps are now much more flexible in terms of opening and saving files in locations other than the default. It's not identical to the Mac Finder and there are occasional oddities but in my experience it is very capable. But it's nothing like what it was 10 years ago.
I regularly manage thousands of files in nested folders of website projects as well as Affinity Publisher documents in nested project folders, each with hundreds of linked asset files. And this also includes regular use of local network drives, external drives and sftp accounts for websites.
And many apps are now much more flexible in terms of opening and saving files in locations other than the default. It's not identical to the Mac Finder and there are occasional oddities but in my experience it is very capable. But it's nothing like what it was 10 years ago.