I think the stated reasons are bullshit. Unlocking the bootloader isn't a process your regular customer base is performing, so it will only affect the hobbyists. They're basically stating they don't want the hobbyist community anymore.
And maybe that's a bit harsh given they're just dropping from three per year to one per year, but why? How much of a difference to their stated reasons will the change from three to one make?
I think it's just the tightening of a screw that's intending to squeeze out an element they no longer want.
(Or maybe it's to satiate an untrusting US government, to delay their own Huawei-ing)
Developers of what? If it affected every software developer out there, then yeah this is a major issue. But it's a small subset of developers - mobile developers. Actually, a smaller subset - the ones on Android, not iOS. And even smaller than that - not the ones who develop apps in Kotlin (what we see on the Play Store), but the ones who hack in C++ on AOSP.
Every community likes to imagine that it is disproportionately large and powerful and influential (unless being tiny is a flex) and the ROM community is no different. To put it in perspective, the size of the LineageOS install base is 1.5 million, which is 0.05% of the total Android install base - 3 billion.
To claim that this community will make any difference to the vast majority of normies who just want to use WhatsApp, TikTok and their bank app - it's a bit delusional if I'm honest.
And to somehow tie this to the US government, that's full on tinfoil hat conspiracy mongering. You cannot be serious.
That's so wild to me as an early millennial. For a good chunk of my life the smart phone didn't even exist and going back further computers were only for nerds. Now 3 billion freaking people using a computer every single day in a form factor that at one point I thought would be always marginal (vs desktops and laptops).