>At this point the most important quality of a phone to me is active security updates, so I'll never buy one where a carrier
you have no ideia how little of minority this type of thinking is! :(
Now I wish they would do the same thing to the EU wanting to "customize" the iPhone... (e.g. forcing USB-C)
Lightning was/is the most blatantly money grabbing technology ever.
The reason Apple stuck to lightning is not because they liked the design, or because it was superior (it wasn't). It's because you have to license the connector to use it. Every single lightning cable sold, whether it be from Apple or not, Apple made a pretty penny.
Running such a racket at the expense of consumers is bad. Someone had to step in, because it was becoming increasingly obvious Apple had 0 intention of ramping down the money grubbing.
I know a lot of iPhone users who will only buy iPhones because of their longevity. They'll keep them for many generations, and they simply don't have faith in Android phone brands to keep up that long. Phones are large purchases, sometimes financed, like a car. So when it comes to buying, some consumers treat them like cars. They weight reliability and longevity very high, and they'll often buy slightly used phones. A generation or two old iPhone is really still top of the line.
A lot of that is marketing perception but there's also some truth to it.