USB-A cables not working with iPhone 12, but do work with iPad

I've encountered an incredibly frustrating issue with my lightning cables, and I can't figure out what's wrong for the life of me.

A few days ago, my iPhone 12 wouldn't connect to my car with a relatively new (~2 months old) Anker lightning to USB-A cable. I tried another, much older, lightning to USB-A cable, and no luck. So I troubleshoot further.

Both of those cables did not work with an Apple 5W wall charger, a Samsung USB-A charger, another old USB-A charger, and an Aukey portable battery. They didn't work when plugged into a PC. I found an old Apple lightning to USB-A cable that's seen better days; that didn't work either.

Occasionally, the iPhone seems to detect the cable. It would vibrate and the screen turns on, but nothing else. A few times when plugging into a wall charger, a notification appeared on the lockscreen that an "accessory connected, unlock to use accessory." Nothing happened after unlocking the phone. These occurrences were very sporadic.

However, all of these cables/chargers/computers work fine with my old iPad 5th gen. The only thing that works with my iPhone 12 is my Anker lightning to USB-C cable. It works with anything I plug it into.

Has anyone encountered this issue or know of a solution? I found a few forum posts online, but no one has a solution, other than "use the USB-C cable."