Yes, there are basically no reasons to not move to USB-C. Up until this point, I have been saying that it is a matter of convenience. But it is also economical.
The other day, my wife and I were out and planned to get lunch and go back home. We had outdoor seating and it was a beautiful day, so she decided to stay and work.
She did not have her lightning headphones and asked me how much a cheap pair would cost. Well, since it is lightning it would be about 3x as much as a USB-C pair.
I was so close to just pulling the trigger on an iPhone 13 since my iPhone XR is constantly freezing and has terrible battery life. This instance reaffirmed my decision to wait for a USB-C model iPhone.
If the iPhone 15 for some reason does not have USB-C or it is wildly expensive, I am just going to get an iPhone 13 and use that until is no longer works.
The only pause I have with USB-C is that the connection ≠ function.
The world of USB-C is a clusterfuck of differing abilities and standards that all share one common plug. I remember listening to a podcast a while back, where one of the hosts was complaining that he bought a new USB-C headphone dongle for his Samsung that didn't have a mic input, or something along those lines. Or more to the point, it did, but not for his model of phone. Meanwhile, a Lightning headphone dongle does in and out, regardless of the device you're plugging it in to.
Add to that that USB and Thunderbolt now share a common plug, and it's kind of a mess. I was trying to explain to my dad the other day that the sockets on his M1 Mini are both USB and Thunderbolt, which can be just confusing.
At least with Lightning I know that the cable / dongle I plug in to my phone or iPad will do what I expect it to. Mostly.
(As an aside, I recently replaced my old XR with a 13 Mini, which has been a wonderful upgrade)
I see my wife using her 13 and I'm itching to upgrade. I just don't want to spend on a phone so close to release of a new model.
You are right about USB-C being a bit confusing, but I will take the trade off. Then I can use one cable to charge everything. I can get quality accessories for half the price.
I am hoping that the 15 offers some sort of desktop mode like the iPad stage manager when it's connected to a display.
Yes, but I would bet that the overwhelming majority of users have only ever used their Lightning port for charging and headphones, which should be fine with pretty much any cable anyone would use.