MagSafe is still a port, with wires and a (flat) socket. It is also huge, power-inefficient, and does nothing that USB-C can't do. Including it should not alleviate the requirement for USB-C.
That's MagSafe on MacBook Pros. It has a
very specific purpose of protecting a laptop from being yanked off the table when someone trips over the charge cable and doesn't make sense on anything other than a laptop. Anyway, laptops (a) have plenty of room for multiple connectors and (b) don't have the I/O & display support capacity to support more than 2-3 "full function" TB4 ports, so a few dedicated ports for the most common tasks like Magsafe charging or HDMI for data presentation leave the TB4 ports free for high-speed data.
MagSafe on iPhones is a completely different wireless, inductive system. Personally, I could live with plugging in a cable, but long term you could imagine a totally sealed, waterproof wireless-only iPhone. Why Apple chose to use the same name, I don't know - marketing moves in mysterious ways.
What happens when USB-D is announced?
If it's not backwards compatible - at least for charging - with USB-C sockets then the USB Implementors Forum would need to be dressed in clown costumes and pelted with rancid herrings. They've gone to a lot of effort to ensure that USB-C is a "smart" connector that can be used for any new protocols that come along.
MicroUSB was also international, and the EU almost made it the standard AFTER USB Type C existed. You might be missing the point.
USB-C was finalised in
2014 (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB-C)
The "memorandum of understanding" between the EU and the industry to use MicroUSB as a standard connector was made in
2009. (
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_09_1049)
The EU directive allowing time travel to be used in policy making will have been going to been passing in
2135.
I was, and it was awful. But calling this regulation reasonable only seems reasonable right now. If you recall, those connectors were soldered into their chargers as well. Seems the "industry" solved that very quickly in 2007...which is why we're now only talking about cables.
I think the EU vs. Apple issue is a storm in a teacup, and is just giving Apple an excuse to do what makes sense anyway. As you say, though, having a standard connector
on the power supply rather than a captive cable is what makes the difference.
Certainly the multiple proprietary connectors and captive cables mess "went away" and was already going away when the first EU MOU came out. Maybe the EU helped round up the stragglers - or maybe it was just that connecting phones to sync music etc. with computers was becoming more important and only needing to ship a single cable for charge & data offset the cost of putting a USB socket in the PSU.
The "better" part of the new directive is that they're expanding its range and we might see an end to everything that
isn't a mobile phone coming with a captive-cable wall wart and a barrel connector (get the polarity or voltage wrong and let the magic smoke out).
Also, high time to stop bundling minimum-spec chargers with devices - who
hasn't got a box of basic USB chargers
plus laptops, TVs etc. and even wall sockets and extension leads with USB power? (and, if not, what's so hard about ordering one with your new phone?)