I'd guess not "ransom", but not enough resources allocated to backport fixes, along with a lack of incentive since they fixed them already in the gold standard New Version.
Which is just silly for someone like Apple
> a lack of incentive since they fixed them already in the gold standard New Version
That is not how security works. Again, it is just silly for someone like Apple to believe only the latest release needs security fixes.
"We're Apple... everyone always uses the latest versions of our stuff..."