Think Apple fell for the trap of assuming they would eventually solve the glasses form factor and then fell for the second trap of convincing themselves that passthrough VR was the same as their real XR vision.
I think they weren't naive enough for either, and that they released exactly what they wanted to release. It's just that what they wanted to release was as much about preempting their rivals' strategies as it was about releasing a viavle product (or even more so). They wanted to win the market, but they were desperate not to lose it.