I don't think your criticism here is fair. I see what the article is conveying in this sentence: this is a decision that makes no sense (it probably costs more to artificially limit speeds in this way) but it is also not unexpected that Apple would make this kind of decision. I think it's a well written turn of phrase.

This is more about Apple's record on doing things to embellish their latest tech. They're going to do the whole "this is a feature exclusive to our Pro models" and a year or two later they're going to "add" it to others and call it an innovation breakthrough.

It's surprising a tech company like them would bother to do this, given that USB-C is already capable of those speeds, but it's also unsurprising cause it's Apple.

"I would be surprise if any car manufacturer delivers their cars without any brakes, but I wouldn't be surprised if a dishonest car manufacturer would do so in order to sell more cars"

Just give those instructions and a topic to an AI. Money in the bank.