> I don’t see it as a matter of defending Apple, it’s really a matter of technical understanding and competence.

So do I. And my >20 years in the business gives me the experience and knowledge to see through Apple’s FUD.

> […] but also wanting to benefit from all the work and focus that went into creating it, is understandable to me.

It is my device. I paid for it. If Apple thinks they deserve more money for what they did they are free to ask me, the customer, for more money.

> […] unelected bureaucratic despots

Aha, the dog whistle of the AfD brand of conspiratorial bullshit ”unelected” nonsense! Career bureaucracy is supposed to be certified and educated, not elected, because that is the only way they can properly implement the laws of the electorate. Bureaucracy still answers to elected officials, but they are supposed to act without political interference and provide specialist knowledge. For the same reason you do not vote on every captain and colonel in the military hierarchy, or every tax collector/auditor in your IRS equivalent, you do not vote on every bureaucrat in the Commission tasked to execute and implement law.