One of the big reasons for me getting the OP2 was the port and I'm still using it (with LineageOS). I'm sure I would have upgraded long ago if it didn't have a USB-C port as that's what I've standardised on for all my portable electronics.
I don't own a single lightning device, but everything (minus older devices) has usb-c. Even rechargeable battery inside a flashlight.
Majority of electronic devices are older than usb-c standard, even the electric screwdriver I bought two months ago was micro-usb, as is the shaver I used this morning. At work about half the low power devices are PoE or Micro-USB.
Aside from a few laptops USB-C is still rare.
https://epsnews.com/2017/12/28/usb-type-c-adoption-keeps-gro...
Looks like phones alone account for ~3B in a single year, so no, it's not just laptops. Even if you exclude those, the "consumer electronics" segment looks like it'll go over 1B/year pretty soon. Get out of your bubble.
https://www.marketresearchblog.org/2021/09/22/usb-type-c-mar...
That seems to show that the US is a plurality, but not a majority, of USB-C shipments.
“Billions” sounds like a HN bubble statement.