> In all my years, I haven't had a single Lightning connector fail on me. The solid metal where the contacts reside is just too robust to wear out or get damaged (unless you somehow step on it the right way or let it corrode).
I'm on my second phone where the Lightning connector barely works anymore. 'Thankfully' this one support Qi so I can charge wireless, but if I want to do a wired backup or upgrade I have to jiggle the cable like mad to get any kind of connection.
If you haven't, you might want to try carefully "cleaning out" the lightning port with a toothpick or other small tool. I've seen multiple iPhones collect enough lint and dust in the lightning port over the years to make the connection still work sometimes but be unreliable until you clean it out
I just had a Lighting port fail on me (partial thankfully - there's one single cable in my house that still works to charge the thing) - but it's a 2014 device, a good 7-8 years old.
I've had a Lightning port fail on my original SE last year. Replaced it with the part taken from a donor SE. That was a bit scarier job than replacing the battery, but still doable.
I'm on my second phone where the Lightning connector barely works anymore. 'Thankfully' this one support Qi so I can charge wireless, but if I want to do a wired backup or upgrade I have to jiggle the cable like mad to get any kind of connection.
YMMV.