Yeah, and they'd never get rid of the original proprietary charger port on the iPhone, or MagSafe on their MacBooks, or their .... 😏
Not the same thing at all. New ports allowing higher data bandwith are progress. What kind of progress do you think could be made with a new Watch band connector?
Also, in an interview when the Ultra came out Apple designers said they know very well how important band compatibility is for a lot of Watch buyers / band collectors and that keeping the compatibility intact was one of their primary design goals.