and most people i know in my apple bubble just don't really care and a number of them have lightning devices/docks and are not looking forward having to find/pay for replacements.

not gonna argue it isn't silly, it is, just that there is over a decade of lightning devices out there that will now become e-waste and good chance apple was trying to avoid taking the heat for forcing the change onto users. Now they get to blame the EU.

devices like https://www.flir.com/products/flir-one-gen-3/ - a 200$ device - will now have to be replaced when moving to the usb-c iphone.