The global mw.popups.enabled is set first by the desktop target.
desktopTarget.js#L64
mw.popups.enabled = mw.popups.getEnabledState();
Then re-called by schema code:
ext.popups.schemaPopups.utils.js#L14
popupEnabled: mw.popups.getEnabledState(),
Schema code should base popups enabled by using the global variable mw.popups.enabled or memoize mw.popups.getEnabledState.