The Chinese App Store generates 6-8 billion annually in revenue and that's not even including the revenue from their other services. China is also one of their largest phone markets, if not the largest, and the source of their growth so of course Apple rolled over like a lap dog and handed over the data of their Chinese users to the Chinese government. The fact that the EFF has been so silent on the the hypocrisy of Apple's privacy policy says a lot.
It's completely OK for Apple to pursue their business interests, but the false moral high-ground is deceptive.
We may wish Apple would use their vast economic resources to attempt more nudging towards liberal western values, but from the public information I'm aware of, they seem far less hypocritical than most companies (or governments, especially the US).
This! The very fact that you perceive Apple to be more private than the competition is the exact point I'm harping on.
That's a perception, not the truth. A Google pixel, or Samsung Galaxy (with encrypted storeage enabled) offers as much, or as little in the way of "usable privacy" that protects dissidents as Apple. Not to mention, dissidents are a lot more common in politically turbulent developing countries where an iPhone X costs as much as 6 months in wages. So, let's not pretend like the iPhone is a gift to dissidents