And iPhones from 2012 have reversible connectors, while everyone else was using fiddly Micro-B.

They also stopped getting updates in 2019 compared to iPhone 7's from the same year still getting updates.

Do those 2016 Pixels still have unpatched USB exploits?

Which is fine to mention, but isn't applicable to a discussion on iPhones. 15 Pro is the first version to support USB 3.0 speeds over USB-C.

rather than increase BOM and R&D costs, they opted to not upgrade the USB interface. Having a USB3 capable cup through a lightning connector would be pointless since it would be speed capped. If you truly need fast USB transfer for some reason, they sell a phone model with that.