That cost $160. Let's not dance around that. Airpods are extraordinarily expensive compared to the headphones everyone used to be able to use.
If you mean wired, those still work just as they did prior. The iPhone comes with the adapter.
BeatsX (with W1) are at $150, by the way. So the price is already down several percent! ;)
Let's make a comparison.
Is the alternative faster or more reliable than the original that it's replacing?
No, not by any typical (audio) criterion.
Power usage matters much more in wireless headphones. Bluetooth takes power. DACs take power (better ones and better algorithms use even more power). Better drivers use more power (without considering the big response boost you get with multiple drivers at the cost of additional power usage). With super limited battery size, all of these are cut with a corresponding decrease in quality.
The USB and lightning ports tend to get a lot of interference from the dozens of digital signals mere hundredths of an inch away. The size of the 3.5mm seems to ensure that it's more isolated.
You're also wrong about charging the phone while using Lightning headphones; there are already adapters that can do that. Plus, it's not necessary to charge your phone all the time; that's what having better battery life is about. And better battery life is made more possible by freeing up precious internal space that the outmoded, single-use headphone jack used to occupy.
If you can't watch a video without an audio delay, that means you're using really crappy headphones. Fix that. Don't blame Apple.