I have had to clean out my Pixel phone’s USB C port multiple times. It requires shaving the toothpick down to fit. I eventually bought an iFixit cleaning kit with some tiny brushes.
It seems to be less of a dangerous problem. The USB-C receptacle doesn’t have moving parts (the springs that retain the cable and the flexible pins that make electrical contact). While it does have the little protrusion that has the electrical contacts in the middle, it’s less subject to wearing out or being destroyed by sideways force.
In general, the USB-C receptacle seems better designed for longevity.
> While it does have the little protrusion that has the electrical contacts in the middle, it’s less subject to wearing out or being destroyed by sideways force.
... which is pretty easy to achieve when trying to clean out a socket from pocket lint. It's better than micro and mini USB, yes, but a Lightning-style inversion would have been way more durable.
Replying here, but you all got tricked by Apple’s misleading design.
In any connector of this sort, there are two pieces: the plug on the cable and the receptacle on the phone. Lightning has a very visually appealing and physically durable plug, and that’s the part that you see. But this hides several aspects of the connector that make a poor functionality tradeoff.
On a USB micro B or USB-C cable, the plug is retained in the socket by little spring-loaded clips on the plug. On micro, they’re on the outside and very obvious, and they stop working well if the plug gets a bit bent. On USB-C, they’re in the concealed portion of the plug. In both cases, they are components that can wear out, and, when they do, you replace the cable and you’re in good shape. These spring-loaded clips mate with fixed notches in the receptacle, and those notches are much longer lasting.
Lightning does this the other way around. The plug has notches, and the springs are concealed in the socket. If the springs wear out, replacing the cable doesn’t help.
Similarly, the electrical contacts are springy in the socket. They are very easy to damage with careless cleaning.
Lightning has an additional defect involving arcing. If you look at a charging cable that’s been use for a while, you’ll see that one electrical pad on each side of the plug will be burnt. Presumably this is where the connection arcs every time it’s unplugged. I’m not sure how USB mitigates this, but it seems to be less of a problem. Maybe the contacts are simply thicker and more durable.
Sure, USB-C receptacles gave a tongue, and it’s a weak point, but it’s much stronger than the 10 fragile moving parts inside a lightning receptacle.
> Presumably this is where the connection arcs every time it’s unplugged. I’m not sure how USB mitigates this, but it seems to be less of a problem. Maybe the contacts are simply thicker and more durable.
My guess is that it's probably just the good old "different length pins" trick. A quick web search shows me that the VBUS and GND pads (which carry the power) on the socket are longer, so the rest of the contacts unplug first. And unplugging the CC contact means that the pull-down resistor on it disappears, which tells the source to stop sending power to the VBUS contacts before they start to unplug.
