Apple has a long history of "fixing" products by removing useful buttons (every mouse they've ever made), user serviceable battery/RAM, integrated RJ45 connectors, etc. Sometimes in the name of packaging, and other times just to increase their service revenue.
People are missing the real point -- that point being that Anandtech thinks that being able to replacing a CPU on a power user desktop is noteworthy.
It's noteworthy exactly because most people, including you, seem to think that Apple is on a mission to lock down the hardware to the maximum extent possible, and seem surprised when they miss an opportunity to do so.
Exactly my point. Anandtech's headline suggests they do too.
"This is hardly unprecedented for the Mac Pro (nor is it surprising, given that Intel doesn't sell soldered-in ball grid array versions of the Xeon). Older versions of the computers were dual-socket Xeon systems, and both processors were user-replaceable."
If you want to talk about headline click-mongering, well, be my guest, but it's kind of a boring topic....
Examples?
The only change I can think of that doesn't come down to making their products smaller is their move to the idiotic pentalobe screws on the outside of their products. And while that is surely done to keep people out of the products, I rather doubt that it's done "to increase their service revenue".