477
Apple isn't happy about India's demand to upgrade older iPhones with USB-C
(appleinsider.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
The pcb footprint isn't the same. Changing the port isn't as simple as just soldering this one instead of that one. The pins are in a different order. Changing the port requires redesigning the PCB that the port attaches to. In a larger device, maybe you could create some kind of internal adapter that can solder to the lightning footprint but provide a usb-c port, but there's just not enough room in a modern phone.
Plus, even though the USB portion of the circuitry may be the same, the port does more than just provide a usb interface. There's also headphone functionality and other things on there that have to be adapted too, or the phone will have less functionality than it did and people with bitch that apple broke their headphones when they changed the port over.
Surely it can't be that hard to re-engineer? Can't they take the port from the existing 15 and adapt it to the older models they are still building new? Even if it took 1 month to adapt, surely that would be enough time?