The reason for that could be a breach of trust where those who bought the company’s camera lineup were expecting they will be served in a morally acceptable way. If there is a new technology that will impact their enjoying the cameras or for professionals their livelihood, the company is under a moral obligation to introduce it in the new products, in the cameras it is releasing at a similar level with the competition.
The case at hand here is the 4K technology like everyone knows it determines what kind of video a given camera takes, 4K or the usual 1080 resolution. What canon is doing currently is giving its pro cameras such as the 5D IV and 1D X Mark II series a cropped version of the 4K technology only (1.64x and 1.3x). Other competing camera manufacturers such as Sony, Nikon and others had availed the 4K technology without a crop in their recent full frame camera releases, including in their APS-C and Micro Four Thirds cameras. Whereas Canon’s popular semi-pro APS-C cameras do not have 4K video capability.
The problem of not making it available without a crop is professional photographers who use the popular 5D and 1D series cameras to earn a living are going to have an issue with their customers who need a not cropped 4K video resolution for the simple reason that they need to future-proof their videos as 1080 video resolution will become obsolete eventually. If they cannot offer the particular service to their customers, they will lose a lot of business, since almost everyone is asking for 4K video.
The only choice such photographers have is to buy another camera with the 4K capability that will also require buying expensive lenses, maybe with the exception of Sony that can use Canon lenses with an adapter, showing that their investment in Canon gear will become useless. The outcome is there is a lot of aggravation to deal with, whether it is mental anguish or incurring unnecessary financial loss.
The amateur photographers who had invested in Canon cameras and gear will also feel similar anguish because if they want to enjoy or experience 4K video resolution they will have to change their gear that has a lot of upsetting ramifications. Because of that, since Canon is a business that requires investing in its equipment, it should not undermine those who had spent a substantial amount of money on its gears. If others that are very much like Canon such as Nikon and Sony can avail the 4K technology to their customers, Canon has also to be obliged to follow suit since it has the technology.
It has nothing to do with the capitalist sentiment where businesses have a full-fledged right to optimize their profit. In the capitalist system, a business is not allowed to directly or indirectly undermine the interest of its stakeholders such as investors who own its shares. What Cannon is doing is equivalent to undermining its stakeholders who are those who had invested heavily in its cameras and lenses that the company is making useless deliberately.
The professional photographers cannot sit and wait until cannon introduces a not cropped 4K video format because they are going to go out of business since customers will not hire their service unless they have 4K video capability. The same applies to the armature and enthusiasts whose photography enjoyment and experience will be affected.