This sort of things happen all the time in both camps. It's just that Android security is more open and visible to ordinary people.

Apple _just_ patched some really big zero-days.

Update: since this is getting down voted be skeptics, here are some sources for you

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/apple/apple-fixes-2-io...

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/apple-fixes-m...

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/apple-fixes-a...

Apple doesn't have a spotless record with security. However, they are significantly better at pushing updates. A large majority of eligible iOS devices install OS updates, and iOS devices tend to be eligible for updates for many years.

Additionally, because sales are much lower for iOS than Android, it's hard to get to the same scale. I don't know about iPad numbers, but 1 billion iPhones is about 5 years of sales, and five years is around where Apple stops providing updates (edit: as pointed out below, they're doing closer to 8 years from release now, but not all sales are from current model phones) and that combines with other factors and very few devices make it past five years of use.

I wonder how much of it is due to a walled garden, and how much of it is due to iOS devices getting security updates.

It seems like even expensive flagship android devices get a year or maybe 2 of updates now and then you're just left on your own.

Here is an interesting (sad) story I read yesterday: https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/05/06/1024621/china-ap...