Unlikely. The next square-like-unicorn could still use an el-cheapo Bluetooth audio for the same thing in the same way (or some other Bluetooth protocol like a keyboard). It won't be quite as cheep as an audio plug, but it will still be cheap enough for the cost to be dominated by other things.
They could have used the audio part of the lightning plug
The Lightning plug came with all the limitations from Apple. That’s what they wanted to avoid.