That decision had a lot of detractors at the time, but it ultimately seems to have been correct.
I don't know if I agree.
People who moved to bluetooth got arguably worse sound quality.
For wired headphones, there were very few lightning headphones and they mostly sucked.
Now with usb-c you can get a broader range of headphones (because other phones have gone with usb-c).
either kind needs a dac inside the dongle, or the shell of the headphone, or have a bulky external dac.
3.5mm is still king for decent wired headphones/earbuds.
It still has a lot of detractors but it is hard to beat such a sheer market flex.
I don't know if I agree.
People who moved to bluetooth got arguably worse sound quality.
For wired headphones, there were very few lightning headphones and they mostly sucked.
Now with usb-c you can get a broader range of headphones (because other phones have gone with usb-c).
either kind needs a dac inside the dongle, or the shell of the headphone, or have a bulky external dac.
3.5mm is still king for decent wired headphones/earbuds.