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Thinking about this. I wonder if the following applies
I think hardware binning reduces the resolution at the sensor level so that the amount of data being read from the sensor is smaller. A 1 micron 20 megapixel sensor would become a 2 micron 10 megapixel sensor and thus reduce the file size and amount of data to be read. Along the lines of ccd binning.
I assume that with software binning you will always read the full resolution from the sensor and then after that the software bins the data. In the above example if I software bin 2x2 it will still be necessary to read 20 megapixels before it is then binned by the software
So maybe it is just about reducing the amount of data being read from the sensor. Although I suspect the software binning would not change the well depth of the pixels if they are binned after the image is captured and not before
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