Probably more like they were expecting better privacy practices than what Apple provided. One can be very competent but still surprised at just how bad things can be.
Otherwise we would be discrediting a lot of climate researchers when they are surprised that things are progressing faster than expected.
- Predict that a gigacorp, which has been lucratively monetizing user information at gigascale for many years, would prove to be darn good at protecting its sources of user information. In a world where dark patterns, incomprehensible T&C's, "just say yes" user behavior, corporate misdeeds, etc. have been well-known things for many, many years.
and
- Predict the future of the planet's climate years ahead, when state-of-the-art weather forecasting can't yet manage 2 weeks.
(Admitting that I can see a good climate researcher using "surprised" very frequently - both for public consumption, and to summarize "our very-advanced-but-usually-wrong model was wrong yet again".)
Otherwise we would be discrediting a lot of climate researchers when they are surprised that things are progressing faster than expected.