You're right. Sometimes I forget that people have not kept up with basic explanations that have been made dozens of times here over the years.
It is a legal requirement that Apple has bound itself to in its SEC 10-K filings. This has been explained many times before, so you're not the first to be unaware of it.
You can search for "sales shipments sec" in the forums, or simply read
this post I made on the topic a while back.
Now who's being disingenuous
If you didn't understand something that basic, then the polite thing to do is ASK, not assume and attack.
But I admire your wordmanship nonetheless, just as I can technically admire the way that Apple so often meticulously phrases things in very clever - though yes, also very deceptive - ways.
(My favorite recent example: Apple claiming its watch case is thinner than it really is, by only citing the "case thickness" and ignoring the crystal and sensor sections above and below the metal part, a measurement that other watchmakers do not fail to include.)