I don't think Apple has built this maliciously for this purpose, but for normal users this will be a strong motivator vendor lock-in.
1. It's now easier to access passwords on the mac because you no longer are forced to use Safari to view passwords, nor have to sort through the technical entries/certificates in Keychain Access.
2. The app surfaces a prominently positioned button for one-click sharing and exporting of passkeys/passwords, whereas existing methods significantly lack in comparison.
3. It's the opposite of lock in to consolidate all types of passwords into a single consumer-level interface, when the alternative was hunting for them across the various apps and system panels.
4. It works with iCloud for Windows for cross platform support. Which also means you don't need a mac to participate in shared password groups.
Your passwords haven't been bound to Safari for quite a while. You already had to use the Passwords app found in Settings. Both Safari and Keychain Access have controls to allow you to open the Passwords app (the Settings one) from within them, but it stands independently.
The new Passwords app seems to be the old Passwords app with some refinements, new features, and moving it out into a more familiar location rather than it being hidden away in Settings. You might say this is Passwords v2.
I meant this in the sense of addressing people that stated that putting a password manager in Safari is vendor lock in, and accessing passwords via other methods such as the password pane in Settings as a bridge too far, along with describing that panel as "hidden" and using "dark patterns".
On the balance of information it seems clear that moving passwords to a separate app that is easy to access, navigate and share passwords (including across platforms) is the opposite of lock-in.