This argument has never made much sense to me, if only because the amount of money we're talking about is, for Apple, vanishingly small. The Mac is just ~10% of Apple's revenue, of which the "dongle ecosystem" is surely no more than a fraction of a percent.
While admittedly not knowing much about how Apple works internally, I would find it easier to believe that they switched to USB-C just because it looks prettier than because they wanted to make an extra $20 million per year on dongle sales.
I repair used macs. The number 1 problem on all the pre-2012 MacBooks is damaged ports.
Not for nothing, all of these arguments were made when Apple switched from ADB to USB, to Firewire, from 30pin to lightning, and they're being recycled again for the switch to USB-C.
The answer to your question is that each one does something better than the last in terms of portability or data transfer.
I would do the same thing if I had the same power to move markets that they do - no need to put up with legacies of the past when I can just force everyone to follow me toward whatever I consider the future to be.
USB-C provides zero insertion force sockets, a single replacement for any plug of any kind from monitors to networking, 24 pins, and 40Gbps speeds.
Reliability. Speed. Adaptability. User convenience.
Dropping magsafe is when we started seeing port damage. Most problems on the 2008-2012 models are logic board related.
I started a new job recently and got a MBP and iPhone, and the number of dongles I've needed is ridiculous. What's most insane is that I can't even use the earbuds that came with the iPhone with the computer. I'm sure there's a dongle for that.
Then there's the fact that a few days after I started using the Mac the right ports stopped working with the power cord to charge the machine. I had to do research the find the secret keyboard combination to reset the USB ports.
Although Apple's products are generally very good, they have no lack of features and designs that make absolutely no sense to me.
I don't think that's the difference. I think the difference is that, the other times 3rd party companies made the switch to whatever Apple was pushing, and this time, they didn't. USB-A is good enough, and common enough, that all of these companies making keyboard and mice and whatever components, just didn't bother to switch. So, I don't think that this transition was different from Apple's perspective, I think it has just been a failure.
One of the target markets of Macs and especially MBPs is "creatives". Photographers are a part of those. On the MBP 16" presentation page one of the first selling points is that it has a great screen with great colors. The example is a landscape photographer. Of course, you could directly plug the camera in the computer, or have some external card reader, but why bother with carrying more suff?
I agree with the others that thunderbolt 3 is great, and I sure look forward to only having usb-c connectors. On my work computer I love that (it's a pc though). Of course, there's the "right cable" situation, but I suppose that whatever peripheral I buy will have the right kind of cable for it to work. My external monitor does DP alternate mode + PD and the cable that came with works.
That sait, I would miss the magsafe plug, it's probably one of the reasons why my 7 yo mbp is still going strong. I also think they could have left a usb-a port or two, just like they didn't remove FW800 on the first generation unibody mbp.
Anyway, my mbp is still powerful enough for my needs and works perfectly, so I'm not really in the market for a new PC (nor mac). I just like to more or less keep an eye on what happens, just in case.
It is not a problem, it's a feature.
Apple replaced ports that used to cost them pennies in components for dongles which they can sell to customers for upwards of $50, which can be lost, or which you buy multiples of so you can have one at home, in the office, etc.
Unlike previous times in Apple history where they went all-in on a new and not yet widely adopted bus (USB1, FireWire) IMHO this is purely about improving their margins. Remove existing functionality and charge customers more to return to the status quo.