Apple introduced the Lightning connector with the iPhone 5 back in 2012. At the time, it was reversible and superior to the existing Micro-USB connectors. Having been manufactured of a single piece of metal, it was also more durable than the more complex USB connectors.
The first USB-C phone was released in 2015. Samsung released their first USB-C phone, the infamous Galaxy Note 7 in 2016. Their flagship model didn’t use USB-C until 2017.
I find the whole Lighting-hate thing slightly puzzling. Imagine that you come up with a technological solution that solves a problem. Years later, other people finally find a way to solve the same problem. Then they accuse you of being backward. Finally the use of your solution is declared illegal.
Still, now that iPhone indeed has switched to USB-C, Apple's keyboards, headphones and touchpads should follow suit as soon as possible. It makes no sense for them to use Lightning anymore as the ecosystem around it is obsolete.
Edit: another thing that I have found puzzling is how Apple is getting all the hate for proprietary standards, yet at the same time multiple other manufacturers have developed their own proprietary fast charging protocols which means you need both a proprietary cable and a proprietary charger to charge your phones to get charging speeds anywhere close to what is advertised. This was tested by for example Android Authority a few years back. To provide a more up-to-date example, OnePlus 10 Pro supports fast charging at 65 watts but only with its own ”SuperVooc” charger. If you try to charge through USB-PD, you are limited to 18 watts even though PD would theoretically support up to 240 watts. The SuperVooc chargers also refuse to charge any other device at a power higher than 10 watts. It’s interesting how this phenomenon has slipped under most people’s radar.
Thankfully, they recently introduced logo requirements for this exact reason.
Here's a table of the logos