Apple have always had the capability, and have been advertising it as central selling point of new versions of iOS for years. That ship sailed along time ago.
Before that, Apple put up a front that they would fight for user privacy at every turn. They pitched that over and over and over again as a corporate ethos, a selling point. That was the facade at least, even if one is cynical and wants to pretend it was a lie. Now they're not even presenting the facade, which will open the flood gates dramatically. They went from a supposedly resisting agent, to a morally gray and willing agent at a minimum. Apple dumped an enormous vat of blood into the shark infested waters.