When apple changed to lightning it was in the middle of the accessory hype where there were loads of accessories using the 30-pin. People where outraged because they could no longer use any of their accessories. Apple then commited to lightning for 10 years in order to sooth the public image. This was 11 years ago, and they didn't switch last year to cut costs, but I'd argue it only overstayed it's welcome for a year.

It was technically batter, but they limited it on the iPhone 5. Nobody wants to remember that, do they?

Maybe it got faster in later models, but within just two years usb-c had come out.