They don't want to be the computer people take for groceries, rather the one that drives slowly in the main avenue making everyone aware of their presence.
Cost-of-ownership for Apple products is usually pretty great anyway; often they're the $500 vs $50 boots.
I am lucky to live in Europe, in a country where most people probably wouldn't think twice about buying anything Apple.
There are plenty of the countries out there where people aren't as fortunate, most devs would be more than happy to have any kind of computer to actually work on, and that computer won't be an Apple one with a very high degree of probability.
When your path to a better life is coding via a feature phone, whatever M1 is capable of is meaningless.
https://www.hanselminutes.com/615/developing-on-not-for-a-no...
1000$/€ MBA is in the same price category with similarly-performing machines. I mean, I doubt you can work as a developer without being able to run a load of tools at the same time. That phone guy example is an exception.
Even here in Europe, many contractors get a Windows laptop with 8 GB and a 128 HDD (yes HDD) from customer's IT with the respective tooling required for the project.