They fought the FBI over unlocking iPhones when they could have just quietly complied with the request. I'd say they have a decent track record.

They might have been thinking of the recently discovered hardware backdoor issue, CVE-2023-38606 (see also Operation Triangulation). There was surprisingly little reporting on it.

Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38783112

Transcript of Security Now podcast episode discussing the issue: https://www.grc.com/sn/sn-955.htm

Just install little snitch and you'll see how MUCH gets sent back to the mothership. and that is just macos.