I really don’t think the lightning connector compares to cell phone company bullshit.
The lightning connector was around for ~10 years and came out two years before USB-C was finalized.
People bitch about switching cables. Making people switch to usb c two years after they just switched to lightning woulda been bullshit. A ~10 year life for lighting and the cables/accessories for your phones is reasonable.
And like you pointed out, their adoption of USB-C did not take ~10 years across their complete product line.
This is nothing like the bullshit cell companies and ISPs have pulled. People just like to bitch about it.