bit of hype really in my mind.
probably something along the lines of the company thinking:
it costs us money to cast those 4 holes in the crank arm to hold the granny ring which doesn’t really get replaced my the end user muc h … plus its cheap ( i.e. less profit ) to replace the granny ring
lets remove it ( save money ) and put the gear on the back cause its not really going to cost much more to press an extra cog onto the cassette, then that way we can charge for all the new stuff, and still have a part which is going to be replaced on a regular basis for more money as the whole cassette gets swapped … which is more profit than just swapping the granny ring.
Personally, if the 10spd mtb stuff is anything like the 10spd road, then I’m not fussed over it. I think its getting to the stage where the steps between the travel of the shifter reaching the fringes of travel as a result of play in the system ( cable stretch )
( I still think Shimano STX 7spd has the best feel / shift ! )