The iPhone doesn't use USB-C at the moment in no small part because a large segment of Apple's customers would throw an incredible fit if they were asked to switch connectors "again," this "soon" after the switch from the original 30-pin connector to the Lightning. There were customers pissy about that for years and years. And there are still people real salty about them moving their laptops to USB-C charging rather than keeping the proprietary MagSafe. (There are, of course, also people salty about them getting rid of all other ports on laptops, which is more defensible, although it's still mildly ironic that the first laptops Apple shipped in the company's entire history that have zero proprietary connectors on them have made people so unhappy with the connectors.)
Standardization and open standards are big deals to the kind of person who reads Hacker News, but I can absolutely guarantee you that if/when the iPhone actually moves to USB-C, we will be flooded with hot takes about how that shift is just another money-grubbing move by Greedy Evil Apple to make us all have to buy new cables and/or dongles.
Apple was quite willing to drop the 3.5mm audio port despite having plenty of customers with headphones that plugged into it - they simply included an adapter with new phones. Why should it be any different here?
Standardization and open standards are big deals to the kind of person who reads Hacker News, but I can absolutely guarantee you that if/when the iPhone actually moves to USB-C, we will be flooded with hot takes about how that shift is just another money-grubbing move by Greedy Evil Apple to make us all have to buy new cables and/or dongles.