There are older UV-5R Baofengs that are in demand because they didn't have the software restriction that newer ones have. It's not that they're hacked, it's that they were not locked from the factory

Are newer baofengs locked down? I thought you can still just hold down 3 buttons while power cycling the radio to unlock TX from 400 to 520 MHz.

Regardless, the Quansheng UV-K5 is largely supplanting the Baofeng as the go-to entry level HT, the 3rd party firmware for that radio is pretty impressive.

I haven’t bought a UV-5R since 2024. That one is as unlockable with a trivial sequence of inputs.

Are modern varieties truly locked or just “locked ;)” ?

Almost all "real" ham radios can be unlocked anyway, and have much better RF performance.