Even if Lightning was possibly a nicer or smaller connector; nothing beats a true industry standard. Makes the entire “what chargers and cables to bring to connect my stuff” question so much easier.

honestly, the lightning CONNECTOR was far better, but man, I really appreciate the standardization. We have one device on the house left using lightning (my wife's iPhone 13 mini) and .. well, I just wish they'd release a new mini, that's all.

There were non-apple lightning cables already.

And I have to say, the lightning connector itself is better than the usb-c connect in my opinion. I get that having the pins on the male* plug is a theoretical advantage in durability but that has not been my experience with usb-c connector durability on either end.

EDIT: usb-c has pins on the male plug. Which is what I meant. So female -> male.

Give it time. I have 10+ year lightning connnectors working great. usb c isn’t quite as sturdy