USB Type-C is such a mistake for video connectivity. It just doesn’t work most of the time and when it works, any tiny move of the USB Type-C cable breaks it down.
Well, here is one example. I use the cables that came with the portable monitor. When I use a miniHDMI cable, no problems. With USB-C the monitor drops the connection and blinks every so often.
Here is another example. A coworker came crying that her monitor is dropping connection. We’ve tried an HDMI cable (this is a full size monitor connected to a laptop), problem disappears.
It’s a difference between working reliably (like an HDMI cable) vs working sometimes, if you are lucky.
Monoprice has relatively cheap USB4 cables in 3 ft (40Gbps) and 6 ft (20Gbps) versions. I've gotten a bunch to replace my previous mess of different cable types.
I‘ve personally had similar issues with both “real” mini DP as well as USB-C to DP cables, adapters, or USB-C native monitors. Conversely, I’ve also used USB-C video without any hiccups in other device constellations.
It depends much more on the combination of monitor, source, and cable, than on native DP vs USB-C, in my experience.
I've had the same experience. Especially when you're trying to daisy chain or use anything very high bandwidth. I've tried different cables too but the mating just isn't solid enough and small bumps kill the link.
There are lightning to HDMI adapters, but these fascinatingly run a full SoC that receives and decodes a compressed H.264 video stream over lightning, which I wouldn’t really call HDMI over lightning.
What do you mean by "fancy bits?". I can plug my Galaxy S23 into the same dock as my Macbook Pro and use DeX with video out and my keyboard and mouse without installing or doing anything other than clicking "ok".
USB-C cables can be garbage, so you probably need to get a better one.