- iPod 30-pin
- Magsafe
- Lightning
Only one of those (Lightning) is still in use, and it was a replacement for the circa 2001 iPod 30-pin. Magsafe was abandoned in favor of the non-proprietary USB Type-C/Thunderbolt 3. Most are predicting that Lightning will go the way of the dodo in favor of Type-C in another generation or two of iPhones.
Thunderbolt 2 and Mini DisplayPort sometimes get mistaken as proprietary because they were mostly a Mac thing, but in reality it was an Intel thing. A handful of PCs had Thunderbolt 2, but it never really caught on, likely due to licensing fees. Hilariously enough I've seen a number of non-Apple devices equipped with Mini DisplayPort now that Apple has abandoned it.
I guess there's the iPad Smart Connector, which has changed a couple of times in recent memory, but practically nobody but Apple made devices for it anyway. Most third part peripherals connect via Bluetooth, or now with the Pro and Air USB-C.
Realistically everyone else has gone through as many connection changes. Android had mini USB, micro USB, and now USB-C. Really, the only thing Apple does special is move quickly and remove old tech promptly. Other tech have a more gradual approach by virtue of much more diverse selections.
There were 2 physically incompatible magsafes.
Magsafe 2 was made more slender because Apple somehow couldn't imagine that they'd be making an even thinner laptop in the future.
And then the fact that the cable was hard-wired into the wall wart...
> Proprietary connectors that change every couple of years?
Is there any connector in particular you are thinking of that has been cycled out in just two years? All the ones I can think of lasted at least most of a decade. Some such as USB and the 30-pin connector lasted much, much longer than that (the 30-pin connector honestly lasted a long time for how crappy it was).