I have to change my cables every 1-2 years because they will inevitably break with normal usage.

I must be abnormal, as I have never broken a USB cable.

I've washed my micro-usb cable in the laundry more times than I can count, and it still works absolutely fine. I'm not sure how these cables are broken by normal use.

I play a lot of Ingress and Pokemon Go with an external battery. Due to the movement and flexing while walking around, the cable destroys itself.

You're in the minority. Normal people don't break cables. The latest Apple cables still have the cheap rubber sleeve peel away, but you can rip it off entirely and have the metal-coated cable last years without the wire fraying. If you're actually fraying the wire itself, you are treating your phone extremely poorly. I am not gentle with my equipment, and I've never had an Apple cable fall apart to the point of needing replacement.

Anecdotally I know many, many people who complain about regularly breaking cables, both Apple and non-Apple. Myself included. You ought to give data not anecdotal experience if you want to claim what "most" people do.