This insinuation is simply false. Anyone building any product can apply for a waiver under the same general rules. The waivers only apply to the specific products that apply.
Big companies like Apple can easily put many people to work applying for exemptions, while small business owners can’t afford to. The mere existence of such a system is rigged in favor of incumbents.
This is the “well anyone technically could have” excuse, aka the first chapter of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”.
