Everyone knows that a small person has an easier time doing squats with tens of kilos, keeping the back super neutral, as if it didn't cost him. But in the real world, tall people (like me) have a hard time getting parallel to the ground without tilting their pelvis. Not that this is something very harmful, but it is not ideal.
Why does this happen?
It is basically due to our genetics. Short people have the "advantage" of having shorter bones (specifically the femur) which makes the squat much easier for them. In contrast, tall people with long thighbones aren't very "designed" for squats, although that can't be used as an excuse to avoid doing them.
In fact, we can actually "mimic" these signals simply by widening foot position and reducing the distance of hip-to-knee travel relative to weight. In the following video you will see it much more clearly:
However, the squat position is very close to that of a shorter person, since when viewed from the side (sagittal plane) or even from the top (transverse plane), the wider angle of the knees in it will actually reduce the length of the femur under the bar. It's not that it actually cuts the femur in half, but from a physical perspective, and in that moment, that's what happens.
When our femur is "shortened" it means that we are actually emulating a short person in a squat position, which makes leverage more advantageous so that we can squat with the body in a more open hip position. This will direct more load towards that particular joint, rather than the femur.
While this may not apply to every one of us, it can still be something that can help you perform squats more safely and in a much more mechanical advantage position. And before you start saying that a wider stance has less quad development, I recommend reading some research that doesn't support that claim.