this post was submitted on 16 May 2025
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Privacy
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I can think of plenty of reasons, e.g. NSA, or any US institution interested in intelligence gathering, paying for it.
I can though, at the same time, imagine that Apple itself would still NOT want to do it, neither in software or hardware, because once discovered (not when) their economical value would crater.
The market value of Apple is totally different from alternatives, e.g. Chinese companies, as you mention, but also Microsoft or Google. Yes, they ALL sell vertical integration of software and hardware BUT everybody expects Google or Meta to "steal" your data. Most people expect Chinese companies to do the same. Most people understand that Microsoft do it because it's profitable so they follow their footstep.
Everybody who knows this is buying Apple for the prestige AND because they are "different". Namely you are "hip" by buying from them because they are NOT Google subsidizing hardware for privacy, Xioami or anything Android because it's the same but "cheap" or Microsoft because it's what one uses at work.
So... if tomorrow Apple is not "cool" anymore, that's actually a very big deal for the bottom line IMHO.
They might be tempted to do so, regardless of how genuine the "culture" of the corporation is, but even if one were to care solely for money, their image is deeply intertwine now with the notion that at least if you buy some fancy Apple device they'll work and nothing with leak.
That's why economical, not technical, bet on how I have a hard time imagining a hardware backdoor.
But why would the do it in hardware when they can do it in software? Again, the number of people running Asahi Linux is minuscule.
I dunno about such an exposure tanking their stock. Sure, some privacy advocates would be disappointed, but most Apple users would shrug it off. I doubt a significant percent of people using Apple products are doing it because of privacy concerns. And what are those people going to do? Switch to Microsoft? If they were ever going to switch for privacy reasons, or had any willingness to switch to Linux, they probably already would have. But it's all speculation, because getting statistics on this would be almost impossible. My opinion is, it might make a temporary blip in their stock price, but there'd be no enduring impact on their bottom line. Adding hidden telemetry to their chips, however, would add significant cost to every chip.
Because software is easier to analyze than hardware?
Certainly, although OSX has enough closed source parts, and obfuscation is good enough to let a supply chain attack live in Go's module ecosystem for years. Obfuscation is reasonably effective, especially when the DMCA in the US makes reverse engineering legally hazardous, and it's iffy in the EU as well. Anyone who found an issue would have to make it public very anonymously.