This is a bit of a chicken or the egg debate, but I agree in that Nikon and Canon, in particular, have always had very similar flagship cameras. Is that because they looked at each other's specs and wanted to compete head to head or is it because they had the same read the market? I suspect a bit of both.

I still think there are two scenarios that could unfold: 1) R1 and R3 are both going to exist moving forward, so two camera models to target two markets, which seems to be the general assumption at this point; or, 2) the R3 was a placeholder as Canon developed the tech for the R1 and there will be one "flagship" model moving forward.

Assuming that there are two "Flagship" models, the R3 and R1, moving forward, I saw some Pros conversing and their general sentiment was that the R3 would be the de facto heir to the 1Dx line and the "Pro's" flagship. Their comments make sense to me, but if this scenario plays out, camera manufacturers may now see enthusiasts with large amounts of disposable income that want the "best" as a large part of the market, thus they get the "R1" with the high MPs, etc.

Not saying that some working professionals won't go with the R1, almost certainly many will for one reason or another. But there are many reasons why 24 MPs could be enough. Quick example, but you can control your working distance in a studio, thus there really is a limited benefit of cropping. My first two cameras were less than 24 MP. The 5DIV was 30 MP. Assuming 24 MP is good enough, the R3 is significantly lighter than the Z9 (for example), gives you full RAW at 30 fps, has lower bandwidth/storage issues, eye-controlled AF, etc. Of course, no one has seen a production model of the R3 or Z9, so we need to wait and see about other features.

There was a post by Craig/CRguy in response to Neuro indicating that the R1 would be "more than double" Neuro's prediction of 30 MPs. Personally, I can see the R1 having too many MPs for my purposes. With the R5, I needed to upgrade my home computer and I can see the differences in performance between my 1 yr old laptop (Ryzen 4700) and my new desktop (Ryzen 5900). I can see the benefit of more MPs for birds, but that is really it and even then....45 is exceptional. Everything else, 45 MPs is too many, IMO. So, I very well might go R3. It would depend on other features.