You could, but it seems more likely that a mega corporation gave up on a huge market because it failed to succeed there rather than moral principles. It's not like Apple has showed a lot of moral standing when dealing with the CCP, or isn't ruthlessly crushing competition when it gets the chance.
I have a friend who knows Apple's head of user privacy. He vouches that the guy is deeply serious about security/privacy.
Between that and Apple's principled stance against the FBI, I'm inclined to believe that at that time, they were making principled choices out of a real concern for user privacy.
I suspect this time around they have a real concern for dealing with the growing child exploitation/abuse problem, but failed to prioritize system design principles in their zeal to pursue positive change in the world.
I don't envy them: in their position, they have an incredible amount of pressure and the stakes are incredibly high.
May cool heads and rational, principled thinking prevail.
