I don't understand. How do you see disabling a feature that few people use leading to riling people up so the EU reverse itself?
I don't get it either, but that seems to be the plan. Either peer pressure or they are just dragging their feet in inevitable litigation. Trying to get a few more years of max monetization before a niche of users and apps exist outside of IOS (without jailbreaking, if that's still a thing).
Even the biggest fanboys will understand it's Apples fault. The laws apply to all the manufacturers and just Apple "thinks differently".
Then you don’t know Apple fanboys. If Apple releases an automatically installing iOS patch that bricks everyone’s iPhones (including theirs) unless they agree to subscribe to a Hardware Maintenance Plan™ of 19.99 USD per month, the first reaction from fanboys would be “Was waiting for Apple to do something like this. This is how it is supposed to work. It took them so long. Good on them getting rid of non-serious iOS users”. And this chorus will come long before Apple had to say anything on the matter in a press release or so.
Truth. Many Apple fans are not only fine with everything, they will defend it hard