Most users can get by with non-Retina screens, and may not even know the difference. But Apple has made 100% of their products Retina (well, now less than 100% with the Vision Pro). Apple only has a premium option in some specifications. You can't buy a poor display from Apple.
Fair enough points all around. I can only say that I will notice the difference between a retina vs a non-retina display more than I will probably notice the difference in performance between 8gb and 16gb ram on my M1 MBA for what I do, and maybe that's what Apple is going with here.
The MBA gets a higher-res screen, while the M1 chip prioritises power efficiency because these are the features that users will notice (and therefore appreciate) the most - a clearer screen, longer battery life and smoother performance all around (in addition to the keyboard and trackpad). On the flip side, assuming Apple is able to keep macOS optimised to run well on 8gb ram, and with swap working as intended in the background, a lack of ram may well be something only the most hardcore users realised, and these are likely the more pro users who are better served by a device with more ram in the first place (ie: the pro models).
Part of the appeal of buying Apple is paying a bit more for the confidence that it will "just work". And if that stops being the case as often, people won't be as confident with buying Apple products.
I can't speak for other people, but I can confidently say that this continues to be the case for me. I know what my apple devices can and cannot do, I buy the right spec for the job, and I get on with my life.
I've got clients with older PC's with 8GB RAM that used to be fine and now are slow pigs. Fortunately, most Windows computers can be upgraded. The point is, Mac's cannot. So while TODAY 8GB of RAM may suffice, you're absolutely screwed if in a few years, macOS is larger and other apps are consuming more and now at boot your 8GB is gone. The other point is, YES, 16GB does look nice in marketing. And an extra 8GB costs next-to-nothing to add, but Apple would loose almost $200 in profit in doing so. So there is some greed in that decision.
The truth may well be somewhere in the middle.
For example, if and when the day comes when macOS requires 16 of ram to run properly, Apple may at that time simply decide that the M1 chip has been supported long enough and just cut off support for it altogether. So even if you have an M1 Mac with 16gb ram (or were somehow able to add more ram to it), it may not run the latest OS either if Apple decides to base their OS upgrade timeline on some arbitrary metric independent of hardware specs.
After all, my 2017 5k iMac decided to just stop getting macOS Sonoma after six years, and I don't think Apple cares that I have 40gb of ram inside. The iPhone 7 did not get iOS 16 while the A10 iPad did. There doesn't seem to be any reason other than Apple deciding "it's time" and when that day comes, more ram may not help stave off the inevitable either.
You buy more ram now if you need it today, but I don't foresee my computing needs changing all that much (heck, it really hasn't for the last couple of years). So unless I change jobs to become a YouTuber or something, I think 8gb of ram on a laptop will continue to suffice for me down the road, given the things I do on it.