Even if you understand firmware (which I wouldn't expect of most readers, just some; the reason we develop abstractions is so our fellow hackers can hack on new things instead of studying the same things we already studied and hacked), it's extremely common for companies that keep security software secret to rely on that secrecy for security. You need to understand the Secure Enclave in particular and believe that the Apple folks are both talented and honest enough to implement what they say they're implementing to know that, in this case, that's not what's happening.

I think the best you can hope for, even here, is that the majority says "from the headline I'm not sure what that means in practice, so I'll reserve judgment until I look into this."

And even that's a tall order.

I think you’re a bit out of touch in that regard.

I think that 99.99% applies to even HN and it certainly applies to me.