For a company with infinite resources that could seemingly do everything in parallel, putting something “on pause” seems more like the end of it.
Either that or the rumor is inaccurate or there’s something off with the perceived effective size of Apple
Apple's selling point to consumers is the ecosystem. Apples selling point as company with well run operations is the ecosystem.
The interconnectedness means that number of cross compatibilities that need to be maintained grows way faster than number of things you have. At some point you reach a point where it is not feasible for everything to move forward at the same time.