Phosphorus isn't the only way to get the wear protection.
As you noted the hissy fit is over cats, the Fed's insistence on long emissions warranties (read: if your car fails emissions THEY eat it) and the general problem that phosphorus poisons cats. So if you start consuming oil your cats stop working well enough and while you'll probably pass an OBD test (unless you get real unlucky and fail on the O2 sensor readings that throw a code) a sniffer up the pipe will fail you.
Therefore the pressure on the oil people.
This, however, doesn't mean the oils with less phosphorus are inferior. It just means that they have a different additive package in them.
I don't have a recent UOA on my ALH but it's run T6 since the factory oil was drained. That means it's got the new stuff in it now and has for quite some time. It's right near 250k miles and has the OE cam and lifters in it, and the last time the cover was off the top the cam was fine. If I remember the next time I change it I'll pull one -- I have a couple of prepaids from Blackstone so it's just a matter of remembering to do it.
Will I change it at next timing belt interval around 300k? Probably.
Why?
Because there's a bit of lifter noise on a cold start. But seriously -- 300k miles is poor service life on a factory cam and flat tappets? Really?
