“Apple previously described the attackers as “state-sponsored” but has replaced all such references with “mercenary spyware attacks.””
Apple warned iPhone users in 92 countries that someone is trying to remotely compromise their phones. It won’t say who or where, and it has sent these alerts in over 150 countries since 2021. The bigger change is the wording. “State-sponsored” points at the governments that buy the spyware, and “mercenary” points at the vendors. Apple sells iPhones in all of those countries and just picked the label that offends none of them.