I think you massively underestimate how proliferate USB-C is in modern households. The iPhone is literally the last product on the market not to adopt it and when it’s 5 years behind Nintendo in adopting an industry standard you know something is wrong.

I also disagree with the mountain of e-waste. The 2nd hand market for iPhones is massive and all those old cables will be of use to the users of older iPhones (and we are talking anything older than 12 months at this point) for decades. They will get discarded when they eventually wear out rather than just scattered to the 4 winds immediately.

Apple could help the problem by offering a cable amnesty at stores allowing customers to recycle their old leads into a discount off new ones but they suspiciously don’t.