I... don't hate it.

If you take a thin lead and wrap it round a pencil the use a hair dryer on it then it becomes a curly lead .....

99 percent invisible just did an excellent episode on those phones and why they were indestructible.

TL;DR the phone company owned them and had to pay for replacement and repairs.

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/100-objects-019-western-electric-500-series/

Still breaks far too easily at the plug because internally the wires are barely touching it from the start.

Oh yeah I see your point. There are better made ones but they are much to spendy for what they are

Edit
But having said that I have had some cheap ones for years now so I suppose they are fit for purpose

I used to munch on stringy phone cord as a kid. Parents thought it was rats but no, it was... it was me.

Hey mum?

IT. WAS. ME.

(Rat closes laptop)

Because they learned that things that last too long are not profitable enough.

Because they learned that things that last too long are not profitable enough.

They can. They do. You can buy them.

Then most people say "I'm not paying that for a lead, I can get five normal ones for that price!"

Apple makes a lot of money off "repair services" (where you basically pay to replace a device instead of repair the $1 component in it) and replacing accessories.

They not going to build high quality parts. Their whole model is built around an ecosystem of replacing stuff. Even if you manage to get your stuff lasting, they'll stop supporting it so you have to replace it.

Apple charges five times normal price and their stuff still disintegrates.

bought something vaguely like that for my keyboard

https://epomaker.com/products/epomaker-mix-pro-cable

Also, telephone cords are (and always have been) cheap.

Do you have any specific brands to recommend? I am ready to pay for quality after going through an endless amount of crap cables.

Yeah, that's probably part of why people don't trust the expensive ones that last.