Indeed. I had a ThinkPad with a physical switch to turn wifi on and off. The OS got into a weird state one day (a driver or OS bug) and I was shocked to discover that wifi was working even though the switch was in the off position.

So even on a ThinkPad, these physical switches are fake, i.e., they are just software settings checked by the OS, and not a hardware override.

If you use Apple hardware, then you trust them on many other levels. As for this particular feature, some hobbies or profs (like fixit) may have a good chance to disassemble it and check.

The internet is full of people who will take it all apart and test the crap out of it!

It would be quite a claim and people really do love to put apple products to the test. see: bendgate.