Going public with the demands is a risky strategy, as now Apple’s response will be publicly known. If they pay the ransom, it sends a message to everyone with

Going public with the demands is a risky strategy, as now Apple’s response will be publicly known. If they pay the ransom, it sends a message to everyone with access to confidential Apple manufacturing materials that they are sitting on millions of dollars of ransom material. I would guess that Apple will refuse to engage in order to avoid incentivizing everyone in their manufacturing chain from trying the same stunt. Instead, they’ll go to great lengths to investigate the leak and punish the manufacturer responsible for leaking the material. Schematics don’t hold much an exceptionally high value given that they could be reverse engineered from the product by sufficiently funded individuals. However, it would represent a leak of the details of upcoming products which is something Apple goes to great lengths to avoid.