Hahahha... and a week ago a report said it would be thunderbolt

And it's likely at least a usb 3 controller in it just limited to 2.0 speeds. Why even bother

can't you just buy a cheaper USB 3.0 speed cable anyway? or is this a hardware limitation that Apple have put in the port of the phone?

This isn't all that weird. Most USB-C cables sold as "charging cables" are only wired up with 4-pin USB 2.0, because it keeps costs down for a product that wasn't designed for data.

And most people never transfer data do/from their phones with USB anyway, in a world of wireless protocols.

Tbh I doubt users would notice. If you have a USB cable near you, check if the USB A plug has a blue core, or you can count how many connections there are inside. If its not blue and has four connection (or five in the case of mini / micro versions), its USB 1.x/2.x. USB 3.0+ should be blue and has nine connections (except for USB C, which has 24). USB 1.x/2.x cables seem to be everywhere, at least where I live. And yes I'm saying 1.x/2.x because both use the same connectors and cables, with additions in 1.1 and 2.0 revised.