They did because nothing in their statement says only some iPhones are affected. Statements of fact that iPhones will throttle means all iPhones will throttle.
Apple never said
all iPhones will be throttled. All that Apple's statement said was that the
ability of the OS to throttle your phone will be applied to
other iPhones in the future:
"Last year we released a
feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions. We've now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and plan to add support for
other products in the future."
You can be sure Apple's legal department went over this with a fine-tooth comb. They've only admitted to a feature that
could be used
only as needed during instantaneous peaks. And that this feature is planned to be implemented in other products later. So it does not say exactly under what
conditions if or
when this feature will be turned on, nor does it say
which products will ultimately be afflicted.
We have reports on this forum and on Reddit that (1) this
feature has already been turned on for some iPhone 7 models with much more than 80% battery life remaining. And that (2) some Apple stores (and even corporate itself, when mailed in) have refused battery replacements for some of these phones with more than 80% life remaining.
We can all argue as to the desirability of throttling to preclude shutdowns. But if verified, items (1) and (2) above are indefensible and are what ultimately will bring legal hassles to Apple once suits are filed using (1) or (2) as justification. The throttling itself will sully Apple in the public's eye, and be where Apple can't win either way. Apple's stealthy implementation and failure to remedy (item (2) above) is what will cost them money.
