Malicious compliance. the MDA is entirely clear here, Apple just doesn’t like the answers and is literally whining they can’t break the laws.
From the other thread: "if the EU requires Apple to allow third parties to use the new screen sharing APIs with the same privileges, that would be a security concern" [1].
My guess: this is coming to the EU, just not at launch. Cupertino had to haul ass to get this to market on time. Creating a secure, open API for random AI engines isn't a priority relative to launching in the rest of the world.
The EU is acting like it has a natural right to have American companies bring every product to its market no matter how burdensome its regulations are: it doesn't.
Samsung has seen higher sales of their S series in some markets, driven by the AI features of the S24, whereas iPhone has been flatlining or doing slightly worse. Given that Apple's lock-in is less strong in the EU (due to the popularity of WhatsApp, etc.), there is a good chance that Apple will use marketshare over this.
Given that Apple is also rapidly losing marketshare in China, I would be asking questions if I was on the Apple board or an Apple shareholder. The behavior of the leadership is increasingly becoming a risk.
However in this case Apple are not going to pull any models from EU markets, that would be an own goal ceding the entire region to Samsung.