It was a lot lighter, had a very revolutionary one piece wing and the method of VTOL was certainly a lot less complex than the one used in the F35, more like the Harrier type, meaning that it also could be used during flight (no mess with doors , extra fans gearboxes/shafts etc.)
The wing-load was spectacularly low compared with the F35, 85lb/ft² vs 130 for the F35 (both at MTOW).
Therefore contrary to the 35 it had some serious growth potential both for fuel-load growth and MTOW growth.
I suspect that for the Navy and Air force versions (and also the MARINES if the CoG would've allowed for it) the cockpit would probably placed a few foot further forward like happened with the F22 production vs the YF22 which would have made it a lot prettier as an added bonus.
Because of the lighter weight, the inherent strength of all thing triangle shaped (like this Delta was), it would have come out a lot cheaper I strongly suspect.
The prototype VTOL version had some issues with hot air coming into the inlet while hovering, but I fail to see why that would have been a difficult issue to solve either by lengthening the inlet, repositioning the forward thrusters or feeding air partially from a topside inlet port.
All the equipment could be at least the same as todays F35, the sensors, avionics, Radar etc..., so that's basically a non issue.
Just imagine a 50,000lbs 590sqftwing vs a 60,000/70,000 lbs 460/670sqftwing fighter, a lower Vapp for carrier ops, more weight margin for the VTOL, more place for internal bays for the F32 2xside + 1 under the fuselage like in the F22 which means 6 AMRAAMS or 2 AMRAAMS and 2x2000lbs bombs.
I suspect that the choice was made for the F35 (even if the USAF clearly preferred the X32) because LM had nothing left to build in the longrun contrary to Boeing who still had the SH an F15 combined with all the other programs that where still having long term potential.
The MARINES got lured by the higher top end speed of the F35 and the NAVY was less outspoken as to which platform they preferred but they had a slight preference for the X35.
I wonder how much the last 2 regret their choice nowadays knowing that raw performance is exactly where the F35 under-performs consistently on all 3 variants mostly because it's too heavy, too bulky(draggy) and structurally at its limits.
All this in hindsight off course so purely academic I admit.
Doesn't take away the fact that in my opinion the X32 is a lost opportunity, I believed that ever since the X35 won by what I suspect was a mainly political decision to keep LM relevant, the fact that the UK was so deeply involved with RR probably also helped.