Actually there is some history behind this.
When the phone companies started ditching 3.5mm jack, they still had an active DAC in the phone. The companies thought why not pass the analogue audio signals via USB-C port's unused pins. For simplification - they processed the digital data into anagloue audio on the phone's DAC and insted of passing it to the 3.5mm (which is not present on the phone), they used 4 spare pins on the USB-C port. Then they included a USB C to 3.5mm passive adapter which just connected those 4 pins on USB-C side to a 3.5mm TRRS jack. OnePlus did this OnePlus 7 Pro. Many other companies did it in their phones too. Then they stopped including these passive adapters in the box. Third party compaies started making these passive adapters.
Some companies chose not to passthrough analogue audio through unused pins on USB-C. They included an active DAC in their USB-C to 3.5mm adapter.
If you connect a passive adapter to a phone which doesn't pass analogue signal via USB-C, then it won't work. This created a lot of confusion. Then there are two different 3.5mm standards - OMTP & CTIA - it added to the confusion as we can see on some threads here. The possible combinations are many and only one will work in any given set of [Phone + Adaper + Earphones]. So yes, you can call it a lottery.