Perhaps. I'd be inclined to believe more if it wern't for Apple and Ive's focus on the beauty of their products at the expense of everything else, including usability. The article itself goes over a bunch of examples of this.
Strain relief is, or can be, somewhat ugly. More angles, thicker cables, varying widths - it all adds up to muddying the lines of their product.
Compared to how much they make on device sales - selling a few more adapters is peanuts. How many people do you know that have downright dangerous cables which they persist in using? I'm sure I know dozens.
It might not be one or the other. In a profit driven company, outcomes which result in a material benefit to the bottom line have an easy time being justified even if the justification used is not explicitly related to profit.
Strain relief is, or can be, somewhat ugly. More angles, thicker cables, varying widths - it all adds up to muddying the lines of their product.
Compared to how much they make on device sales - selling a few more adapters is peanuts. How many people do you know that have downright dangerous cables which they persist in using? I'm sure I know dozens.