Mechanically broken? I have never seen a Lightning break or get too loose in years. I’ve used both connectors extensively. USB-C I’ve faced loose female connectors, broken female connector to the degree that it heated up the MacBook because it generated interrupts for kernel to handle. On the male side I’ve seen bent cables and of course even without mechanical failure there are cables that should work and just don’t for different use cases (Charge but no data. Data but no alt mode video.)
We should look at data but USB-C anecdotally have been an order of magnitude worse for me and people around me.
I had to change a lightning cable once, after years of daily use, and it wasn't the connector the issue. I wonder what was the people owing the cable you saw did with them...
