Fair enough; I shouldn’t have said “everyone” because that’s obviously not true, but only pedantically, for the most part. It’s not insensitive to say “everyone has a nose” and mean “except the very small percentage of people that don’t have noses due to birth defects, trauma, or genetics”.

1-3% of people have aphantasia. That’s not everyone, but it’s close.

The question remains.

Throughout my life, I thought "mind's eye" was a metaphor, and that people didn't actually see images in their heads. When I discovered aphantasia was a thing, and that I had it, I also accepted it was rare. But turns out, about a third of my male friends also have it. Not one female friend has it, though. It's a pity there isn't much research on the subject.