Correct me if I’m wrong but PWAs were only ever “broken” in beta versions of iOS, never in a release.
They then backed down after Open Web Advocacy ran surveys, an open letter and the EU started a investigation.
Apple releases developer notes containing changes included in its betas. Such a change should obviously have appeared right away when iOS 17.4 beta 1 was released. It did not.
After two weeks of backlash, Apple did confirm it was removing the feature in a public statement. They just did not want to announce it publicly before.
After two other weeks of bigger backlash and the start of an EU investigation, they publicly announced they would not remove the feature after all.
They 100% intended to remove the feature, and 100% backed down.