Even without the Secure Enclave, is it even possible for Apple to do this? The article talks about how Apple could add a backdoor to the OS and update the software on the device in order to break this, but I'm not sure how anyone is supposed to update the software on the device while it's locked, without erasing the device in the process (assuming of course that the iPhone is running a relatively recent version of the OS to begin with). AIUI Apple used to have the ability to backdoor phones for use in complying with law enforcement requests, but they removed that ability several years ago. And of course if they still had that capability with this phone nobody would need to order them to add a backdoor anyway since they could just bypass the passcode directly.