Suppose for a second that Apple's networking stack ruined things for other users, were in violation of standards, or insecure. They'd be lambasted. Furthermore, their users would have a sub-par experience. Bad press and, more importantly, a poor user experience are two things Apple tries to minimize. They'll only put up with bad press when they perceive it to be at the long-term benefit of their business, as with the iOS App Store. I assert this is not one of those cases.
What seems more likely is that Apple decided device connectivity and wake-from-sleep performance is paramount, and then aggressively optimize to ensure Apple devices are awake and connected as quickly as possible. Period.
Users hate waiting for a machine (or phone) to wake up and, once awake, they hate waiting for it to be usable. It seems Apple saw this pain point and decided to do something about it. And, as breaking standards compliance or introducing security risks would do nothing more than bring bad press and anger or frighten users, they almost certainly optimized in a standards-compliant and secure manner.
I'm happy to be proven wrong. In the meantime, I'm going to appreciate the attention to detail and respect the work that went into providing this experience.