Since manufacturer's are getting rid of the front DR, that leaves a little room for cost of manufacturing considerations so they can include 2 speed hubs without getting the MSRP of the bike too high. Certainly a two speed hub will help make up for the range of gearing lost by 1x or the number of in-between gears depending on what the external gearing is.

I never was able to tear up the 3 speed IGH I had for a long while as a kid. So IGH must be tough enough.