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It's only a matter of how you define "model". For me, the Kindle 3 is one model, the Kindle 4 is another, and the Kindle 4 (black) is arguably another (or arguably not, because the same firmware runs on both).
However, it is entirely normal practice to exchange some hardware components during the lifetime of the production of the same model. It doesn't matter which manufacturer produced the RAM that is in your Kindle. And, while the PW screens have obviously gotten somewhat better over time, it still remains the same model with the same key attributes. And the software runs on all Paperwhites (but only on Paperwhites).
You could take this one step further and differentiate by the first block of characters of the serial number - which is what Amazon does, btw. Kindle 3 updates are specific to that first "SN block", and even K5 updates still include those blocks in their update packages to identify the devices that the update is intended for. Yet, the "model" is still simply "Paperwhite" or "Touch".
Otherwise, you'd have an explosion of model descriptors with no real meaning. You could just as well say that each individual Kindle is a unique model, identified by its serial number.
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