That's a pretty misleading quote out of context (and to be honest, it's not great even with context - there's no real grounds for iFixit to make that assertion) - Apple made changes at the hardware & software level to how the touchpad & keyboard work - offloading more functionality to the main SoC, changing the comms protocol, etc.

There's no evidence at all that it is an attempt to block repairs with older hardware.

edit: if you think about it, it's even more awkward for Apple - now they have to have two sets of parts inventory for repairs, etc. It doesn't really make sense to do that unless you have a technical justification.