Lightning has always been in this weird place, and it tracks that it'll likely end in a weird place.
- it was badly needed when it was introduced, because the 30-pin connector was massive and came with a bunch of trade-offs around water ingress
- the prevailing standard at the time, micro-USB, was both a poor user experience (directional connector without enough to distinguish up from down) and had reliability issues (the clips on the connector would wear with time), two issues Lightning solved several years before USB-C was available on the market
But since Apple took a bunch of blow-back from users on changing from the 30-pin connector ecosystem, they promised that Lightning would last at least a decade (whether that choice helped or hurt electronic waste, I'm not sure). So even though USB-C has been at a good point for consumer adoption for 3-4 years, Apple has drug their feet. I think they'll be switching to USB-C with the next phone redesign, regardless of what the EU may regulate, just because it's "good enough" relative to Lightning (my only issue is that the device side of USB-C has a "tongue" that can break off, while that task is on the more-easily-replaceable cable side for Lightning).