To be fair, they were criticized a lot for dropping the 30-pin connector and going to Lightning too. At the time they said they designed Lightning to last 10 years (about how long 30-pin lasted), because they knew how disruptive a port change is with all the accessories people have. It lasted from 2012-2023, 11 years. So they made good on their promise.
"Promise" is doing a lot of heavy lifting, this whole theory is extrapolated entirely from a single remark during the iPhone 5 introduction in 2012, "this connector is a modern connector for the next decade".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4gC4Z-fx5k&t=1571s
The only other time they referred to replacing Lightning was when Joswiak said "obviously we’ll have to comply, we have no choice.".
https://www.theverge.com/2022/10/26/23423977/iphone-usb-c-eu...