I've suspected this myself, but I think they went too far. Even minor incidents are prone to breaking a micro-USB connector where a mini-USB would tough it out. But there's a bigger chance of damaging the mini-USB port. All in all I think the micro-USB connector could have been made a little sturdier without excessive danger to the port.
On the other hand, I've never fatally damaged a Lightning cable OR port, despite some fairly bad accidents (drops that land on the connector for example). The only failures were a couple where the outer coating started to come off right past the strain relief, the connector itself was always solid for me.
The jury is still out on USB-C for me. I just don't have enough datapoints, but it does seem more robust on the surface and finally (finally!) the cable can be inserted in either orientation.
In my house, I replace at least one lightning cable per month. If those are even tugged in the wrong direction, they will bend or break entirely. Also, the copper pad contact surfaces on the surface of the connector often simply fall out of the plug itself, rendering the cable useless.
I'm buying Apple cables from Apple, as well. The lightning connector is garbage, and is easily the worst device interface cable I have ever seen.
Also note that the springs on a lightning connector are on the socket and not the plug.
Lightning cables and sockets are designed to wear out quickly, forcing replacement early and often.
You might have a device in your home with a broken socket
I have an old iPhone 5 where the socket is messed up in a way where it will instantly break a lightning connector if you plug it in, making it so the cable only works with that phone.
As a contracting data point, I’m still using my out of the box lightning cable of my iPhone 5 to charge my iPhone X. That cable is over 6 years old now and it did not break, stray or lost is reliability in any way.
Maybe they forgot to add the secret sauce to my copy, who knows.
P.S.: My iPhone 5s lightning port is also good as new. Just needs an occasional grime removal with a wooden toothpick.
On the other hand, I've never fatally damaged a Lightning cable OR port, despite some fairly bad accidents (drops that land on the connector for example). The only failures were a couple where the outer coating started to come off right past the strain relief, the connector itself was always solid for me.
The jury is still out on USB-C for me. I just don't have enough datapoints, but it does seem more robust on the surface and finally (finally!) the cable can be inserted in either orientation.