True. And the pressure not to do that would be extreme. So it doesn’t help the ‘I prefer not to give estimate, like Apple’ argument at all.

My point was that if there is a hard deadline that doesn't depend on the team, estimates are simply not relevant.

If the team provides an estimate that falls one month after the deadline, the pressure for them to change their estimate will be extreme as well. In reality, if management has already decided when the product should be released, they don't give a fuck about an estimate. What they're interested in is for the team to take ownership of a decision they didn't make, and that's what the estimate is for.