Proprietary card audio port? What are you talking about? Apple doesn't care about wired audio and neither does the average consumer.
I've been using Bluetooth headphones for many years and imo it was the right call to push the industry in this direction. Bluetooth headphones don't die as quickly as you think. My first gen QC35 lasted close to 5 years when I replaced them and the battery was still good. They were replaced because they started making a weird noise randomly and I didn't take the best care of them so probably some wire in them became loose or something.
People don't like change but if you still want to use wired headphones you can. Use a USB-C/lightning adapter to headphone jack.
Batteries can last a long time. We have a Tesla in the driveway that I expect the battery to last 10+ years at least.
The best argument I can see for faster than USB 2.0 speeds is YouTubers that shoot 4k video on iPhones and then need to edit the video. That's a very small number of people though