For people who already have USB-C phones and are considering switching it means "All of the cords you have right now will still be useful", which is a definite improvement over "All of the cords you have right now are junk you will throw away and have to replace with new cords".
I'm not trying to say that will drive massive upgrades in and of itself, but I can definitely see it being a nice-to-have at the margins and help a nontrivial set of people pull the trigger.
I'd think most potential upgrades to the next iPhone would be current iPhone users. If anything, I think the switch to USB-C would be a deterrent to people who are sensitive to cord changes.
I don't understand the need to have a single connector vs a block with interchangeable cords, but I also don't care that much about it so I might be missing something.
Don't you have USB-C cables for literally everything else? This is Apple's equivalent to finally dropping micro-USB, everyone is using USB-C now, thankfully.
I mean my MBP has a MagSafe charging port, but I use USB-C for powering that too. One type of cable for everything.
You know what we had to do about a decade ago? Toss out our 30-pin connector cables. Times change, the switch of the iPhone to USB-C was inevitable given that Apple has already moved pretty much everything else away from the Lightning connector already. At best the EU pushed up the timeline.
I'm not trying to say that will drive massive upgrades in and of itself, but I can definitely see it being a nice-to-have at the margins and help a nontrivial set of people pull the trigger.