While small iPhones don’t sell nearly as well as larger sizes, I suspect they are still a very profitable product as Apple keeps releasing them.
I think Apple has such high expectation to sales figures that even if a smaller iPhone comes in, even as the 10th best selling phone, that's maybe only 5% of all iPhone sales. Massively successful as a phone, millions of people bought it, but to Apple, the SE is a side hustle at best.
My daughters friends made fun of my iPhone SE3, they had never seen a phone that small.
It’s not clear if they decided to move just add E models to their lineup, or given up on SE models entirely.
Similarly people have called the 16e as a replacement for the SE line, but that’s a cost assessment not one based of form factor. It could be most people bought the SE because it was cheap, but without two different form factors at identical prices there’s no way to tell.
Regarding the 17e, the supply chain rumor mill keeps mentioning it, so it definitely seems to be a thing.