Google wanted to limit the maximum rules an extension could pass to Chrome to 30,000, which many Chrome extension developers said was extremely low, and wouldn't even begin to accommodate the likes of ad blockers, parental control or traffic inspection extensions.
The company was immediatelly attacked for trying to "kill ad blockers" and after months of criticism, Google eventually backed down on its initial plan and settled on a higher limit ranging from 90,000 to 120,000, a number that many extension developers, and especially those managing ad blockers, still consider insufficient.
On the other side, when Apple rolled out the new Content Blocker API, it enforced a maximum limit of 50,000 rules for each new extension that wanted to block content inside Safari. Of course AdBlock was running faster. It had fewer rules to apply than before.
Unlike Google, Apple never received any flak, and instead, the Tame Apple Press pushed a sound byte that Apple was caring about users' privacy, rather than attempting to "neuter ad blockers".
One of the reasons might be that few people use Apple's Safari, and Apple doesn't rely on ads for its profits, meaning there was no ulterior motive behind its ecosystem changes. Besides Apple fanboys tend to believe what ever their Mighty Overlord tells them.
But there is another reason which might not be so nice. Apple is known to have a heavy hand in enforcing rules on its App Store, and that developers who generally speak out are usually kicked out. It's either obey or get out. Unlike in Google's case, where Chrome is based on an open-source browser named Chromium and where everyone gets a voice, everything at Apple is a walled garden, with strict rules.
Apple was never criticised for effectively "neutering" or "killing ad blockers" in the same way Google has been all this year because the pressure normally starts with extension developers, but it then extended to the public. In Apple's case, developers will never to complain because it could result in them being kicked out of Apple's store.
