Apple will no longer license aftermarket power adapters for iPhone 5 14 years ago
^ This seems like it makes a lot more sense to me. Considering the same thing happened when the iPhone 4 released - Apple didn't sell any 3rd party cases at the time. They only carried their bumper exclusively for a short period.
This type of connection is about to be used in a myriad of devices. 3rd party cables will be licensed. This article is blogspam with a sensationalist HN headline that isn't even from the original article.