Apple will argue that the FBI's court order violates its free-speech rights

Honestly I think this is the best argument above all else. Yeah Apple can technically create the software the FBI wants and while it could be used as a precedent setting case, that isn't guaranteed. But forcing a company to write custom software and essentially work for the government for however long with them directing resources towards this versus other areas of their business?

This could seriously hurt their business not just from PR but from a resourcing perspective. I don't think any company should be forced into working for the government. Maybe some exceptions exist for things like physical manufacturing pipelines during war time but this is obviously not that.

If code is speech will apple admit that they are involved in censorship when they reject app from the app store? Just asking. Yeah - I know that they have right to do it. I just want to see the PR responses.