People who say things like this rarely also want the hassle that comes with it. Key exchanges, re-keying: all a big PITA. But iMessage (and WhatsApp) do key exchanges facilitated by a trusted broker. If you didn't trust the broker, you would have to do more work when making an initial exchange with a peer and more work if they lost their phone/keys.
iMessage has always been a compromise with subtle rough edges. But we trusted Apple because they talked about privacy and made it clear that their business model meant that we should trust them more than competitors. But now, precisely because of how good and effective they secured their devices -- they fear regulation and thought that they could further compromise things and people would go along with it.