I don't know how well that impression is born out by the generally short tenures and increasing growth of base pay that we're observing. Lots of decently large tech firms pay well beyond Amazon's rates and manage to retain people for far longer - this move specifically seems to be highlighting that the compensation Amazon was offering was insufficient for the pain employees were being burdened with.

I do also think FAANG built up a reputation for inaccessibility to intermediate devs which gives them an air of prestige but also significantly impairs their hiring ability.

Clearly with their base pay and RSUs, they still weren't offering enough.

A doubling of base pay means that they realize they have been way off the mark.