That's exactly how the industry works. I've spent more than a decade in it. We're talking about IDs, not tracking other information.

IDs are needed for 2 primary reasons: controlling ad frequency and attributing clicks and conversions to an ad impression.

Cookies worked for a long time but they were always considered loose short-term and anonymous identifiers. Apple had a opportunity to offer a better device-level option that had the same privacy but much better efficiency, and yet decided to break APIs and user experience instead, while also entrenching the big companies at the detriment of everyone else.