And even then they'll think of the most malicious way to comply:
Forced to change the connector to USB C? Better only give it USB 2.0 speeds on the regular and Plus model.
Forced to allow third party app stores? Better give it as many restrictions and limits as possible. I assume/hope they'll eventually be forced to open up more, but they'll fight it for as long as possible.
It’d destroy their upsell from 8gb process in one fell swoop.
There's a video where someone upgrades the memory of an iPhone by cnc'ing the existing memory chip. So basically using a drill to more or less drill the existing chip to get rid of it. Requires crazy precision.
I could 100% see them offering user replaceable memory, but with a slower max speed than factory installed. Gotta have something to point to when the regulators come a-knockin.
I'm in the proces of choosing a new one (forced by hardware failures of current one) a I hate having to choose all of its parameters with no possibility of any upgrade or meaningful configuration at the time of purchase.
I remember learning about this in the early 00's but then the textbooks were saying about this newer memory technology which the world has moved to known as DDR! Makes me feel so old now 👵
If you're a manufacture, what incentives LPCAMM2 gives you over soldering the RAM? With soldering, you can upsell the upgrades and force ppl to replace the whole machine every 1-2 years. How does LPCAMM2 benefits the company? I'm talking in general, not some niche manufacturers like Framework.
TBH, I don't think many will adopt this. Maybe it will show up in some expensive laptops like high end gaming and workstation, but majority of them wouldn't.
According to repair biz iFixit, the issue with the power-frugal LPDDR memory chips is that the lower voltage they operate at calls for more attention to be paid to signal integrity between the CPU and memory. In practice, this has meant shorter track distances on the circuit board, leading to LPDDR being soldered down as close to the processor as possible.
LPCAMM2 is intended to address this by putting LPDDR onto a circuit board module that is "cleverly designed to mount right up next to the CPU," with "very short traces to help maximize signal integrity," the iFixit team explains in a blog and video detailing their hands-on with the ThinkPad P1 Gen 7.
there was perfectly fine memory that was upgradable before. They (system integrators/oems) saw it as a way to kill the upgrade market, boosting profits.