In the real universe, Apple were a key member of the USB Consortium and played a significant role in the design of USB-C.
Lightning is obsolete because it only has enough wires for 2 high speed data lanes. Thunderbolt, DisplayPort, HDMI need 4. Even its support for USB 3 (needs 2 high-speed lanes + a physically separate USB 2 link) is limited and needs a special dongle. Just stop worrying and think of USB-C as Lightning 2.
It’s really not obvious that you could keep the Lightning design and pack 2-3 times more wires into the “tongue” & keep it robust enough to also take all the strain of the connection - possibly why USB-C has moved the “tongue” into the socket where it is protected and has a separate outer metal sleeve to take the strain.