"And they’re openly advertising their products with Privacy motifs."
Because advertising is . . . trustworthy? Advertising copy is meant to sell products. Apple sees a niche market where people are calling out the invasive tactics of tech companies, so they want to aim for that market. Not that they actually have to provide a fully privacy-focused product; they just need to deliver an appealing message. All they really "have" to do (scare quotes because they don't really HAVE to do anything) to live up to this claim is implement some privacy-focused element to their products. At the same time, they can also implement very privacy-invasive elements. As long as they are less privacy-invasive as their competition, they can reasonably assert their claim as a privacy-focused company. That's still a very far cry from being a privacy-CENTRIC company. Bonus privacy invasive element is to pay some genius to text customers' nude photos to themselves.
Because advertising is . . . trustworthy? Advertising copy is meant to sell products. Apple sees a niche market where people are calling out the invasive tactics of tech companies, so they want to aim for that market. Not that they actually have to provide a fully privacy-focused product; they just need to deliver an appealing message. All they really "have" to do (scare quotes because they don't really HAVE to do anything) to live up to this claim is implement some privacy-focused element to their products. At the same time, they can also implement very privacy-invasive elements. As long as they are less privacy-invasive as their competition, they can reasonably assert their claim as a privacy-focused company. That's still a very far cry from being a privacy-CENTRIC company. Bonus privacy invasive element is to pay some genius to text customers' nude photos to themselves.