That was my guess as well. And as a lifelong Mac user it makes me consider switching to Linux as well.

It’s just that I still need macOS for iOS dev right now, but that might change in coming months ...

I mean, you can disable both of these.

And in that context, it’s better to at least have the option, should you ever feel the need to use it.

Personally I leave both on because even having used computer for 27 years at this point, I can still slip up and I’m still vulnerable to social engineering among other things, and so it’s nice to have something to help cover for those situations. It’s no cure-all, but it at least raises the bar for malware and such.

You can disable the telemetry in Windows but it still caused many die hards to abandon Windows.

Most people won't. And if you're developing software distributed to others, this will put your machine in a state where you aren't testing what your end users get.