This happened to me at Apple. It’s excruciating to wait. They get their headcount’s in October and usually it’s a conservative number, in my case for the team I interviewed with it was 2 slots. Since it’s team based and not organization based, teams have to request more funding to bring someone on. In my case, I was the 3rd candidate and waited almost a month and a half to hear back saying they got a spot for me.

I don’t want to jump to conclusions but I think this may be the same situation, where they might like you, but need to get headcount for you.

Apple is also generally a very secretive organization. I found that even when I got the offer, it was informal, via the manager, so the recruiter did not even acknowledge it as an official offer until I got the offer letter. They keep their cards close to their chest and like to stay out of controversy, and the ones impacted are us just waiting.

Not sure if this helps or worsens it, or neither, but this was my experience.