The friction pressure that keeps the cable in place is provided by the cable head, while the bit inside the computer is just a solid block with nothing that flexes. Rough handling can still damage the latter, but otherwise its expected lifespan is long enough to put in the 'don't bother worrying about it' column.
From what I've read, the USB-C cable does have a pair of springs (one on each side, pressing on slots on the sides of the "tongue"), so it's not just friction that keeps the cable in place.
The USB-C bit is more like a PCB with a shell around it. There's only a small amount of moving metal in the shell, reducing the amount of possible fatigue in the expensive part of the equation.
USB-C is sort of like "inverted lightning". The inside bit on the host looks very much like a lightning cable does.
Right, my question was why doesn’t anything wear out in the usb-c female part of the connection. The answer apparently is that the usb-c cable holds the part of the connection that has moveable parts, whereas the lightning connector has the part that holds the cable in place in the device itself, so once that eventually wears out the cable has nothing to hold it in place.
