I guess the distinction is 'filtered' vs 'unfiltered' then. If you look at the lights that fail early using a high framerate camera (1k fps) they flicker between full brightness and fully off. The lights that last longer have some ripple but its 5-10% brightness.

Use a fidget spinner to see the difference. Spin up a 3 lobe fidget spinner and catch the reflection of the LED on it's surface. As the speed changes, a flickering LED will freeze the motion of the spinner. Even more fun with spinners :-).

Yes, adding an inductor will fix the problem, but that costs money. Not enough customers are complaining about the light flicker to justify the higher price.