Why are we not doing this?

And USB type c will do that even better than the lightning. And is going to be universal.

Yep, my last three mobiles (non-Apple) charged and synced from the same micro USB cable. The EU wanted to cut down on the amount of landfill chargers made and so standardised on micro USB.

Yeah, all my phones over the last few years must've come with 'special' chargers, then, because I could just use my charging cable to sync to the computer. I think you might be mistaken, guest.

I have a Samsung and mine does both at the same time...