I think it's also reasonable to trust Apple to actually implement the security and privacy features they claim to, because those features are a part of their product, which means their incentives are clearly aligned, and there is some professional auditing being done.
I think it's even more reasonable to have a relative preference for Apple products, when compared to Google products, because Google's incentives are clearly perversely aligned against user privacy.
Even so, the fact that AOSP can be readily audited by literally anyone does create a more provable reason to trust devices running Android. This does, unfortunately, have some serious limitations, like the fact that most Android devices can only run whatever closed-source AOSP fork the manufacturer flashes on it, and Android is considered generally incomplete without the closed-source Google Play store and its associated apps.
I think it's also reasonable to trust Apple to actually implement the security and privacy features they claim to, because those features are a part of their product, which means their incentives are clearly aligned, and there is some professional auditing being done.
I think it's even more reasonable to have a relative preference for Apple products, when compared to Google products, because Google's incentives are clearly perversely aligned against user privacy.
Even so, the fact that AOSP can be readily audited by literally anyone does create a more provable reason to trust devices running Android. This does, unfortunately, have some serious limitations, like the fact that most Android devices can only run whatever closed-source AOSP fork the manufacturer flashes on it, and Android is considered generally incomplete without the closed-source Google Play store and its associated apps.