I would say it is not so much shortcuts as the fact that the 32-bit SoCs are generally designed for mobile. The only way to get a cheap devboard is to use an SoC which is being produced in high volume, so it doesn't have a prohibitive cost. That means you get the peripherals that a mobile phone or tablet wants, and not the ones that it doesn't, typically. If you insist on using an SoC custom designed for a devboard then the board is probably going to be tens of thousands of dollars.
64-bit is better because there are SoCs directly targeting server usecases which therefore have the kind of peripherals you'd prefer to see in devboards.
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I would say it is not so much shortcuts as the fact that the 32-bit SoCs are generally designed for mobile. The only way to get a cheap devboard is to use an SoC which is being produced in high volume, so it doesn't have a prohibitive cost. That means you get the peripherals that a mobile phone or tablet wants, and not the ones that it doesn't, typically. If you insist on using an SoC custom designed for a devboard then the board is probably going to be tens of thousands of dollars.
64-bit is better because there are SoCs directly targeting server usecases which therefore have the kind of peripherals you'd prefer to see in devboards.