It's never been about price, it's about form factor. The iPhone 7 is 28% larger (HxW) than the iPhone SE. That's precisely why I've refused to upgrade to the later versions too: They're absurdly large.
And the SE is the last one which doesn't have a camera lump sticking out on the back, so it can't lie flat on a surface, and rocks and rattles when you try and type on it.
I went from iPhone 5 to iPhone XS and I thought I would have problems with it's size but it's not so bad. It's not too large comparatively.
I still use an iPhone SE. Both of my previous smartphones (Galaxy S3 and Moto X) were significantly larger than the SE and significantly smaller than the XS. The form factor was the only reason I switched and was noticeably better for me from day 1.
iPhone XS is even bigger than iPhone 6/7/8 though :P