"Depending on where you are, the 12GB 3080 might actually be slightly better value than the 10GB 3080, so you could argue that it’s a welcomed upgrade. Personally though, I’d rather Nvidia remained committed to improving availability of the product they released in September 2020, which many people are still waiting for, the original 10GB RTX 3080."
First, how do you know availability is Nvidia's problem? We are seeing chip shortages across the board from cars to TVs and everything in-between. You presume that Nvidia has any power to change any of that.
"For Nvidia, the 12GB version of the RTX 3080 allows them to significantly boost profit margins on silicon that would have otherwise sold as the original 10 GB model, and therefore allows board partners and/or distributors to cash in on the current market’s demand. "
I love how blog writers, who have never run a business, much less an international electronic manufacturing business, like to talk about profit margins as if this is all simple third grade math. You have NO IDEA what the profit margins are and no idea whether the 12G 3080 has more or less profit built into the cost. And, by the way, no one is "cashing" in on the demand right now except scalpers. What Nvidia, and others, is trying to do is get more product into the market, and yes, so they can make more money. I wouldn't call that "cashing in" as much as it seems like a good business model. As my deal old dad would say, you gotta make hay while the sun shines.
Maybe, just maybe, Nvidia saw an opportunity to get more cards to market by using the lower core count version of the GPU and simply added more memory to help boot performance. I'm guessing, but I believe that the lower core count versions probably have a higher yield than the high core count version and that potentially makes them easier to produce in quantity. It seems to me this might actually help by getting more product into the hands of the end users.
I have a feeling that 3085 Ti 13gb is on its way
