People hate the short battery life, and all the high-powered parts of a premium phone (to the extent that they do take more power) are thus even worse suited to the small battery. Incidentally, I'm starting to want something with less battery; mine lasts over two days, so it seems like I should get something smaller. Problem is, from what I understand, iPhones still do slow charging in 2023.

Re:iPhone SE, the newest one was announced March 2022, a refresh from the 2020 predecessor, so I think you should consider them an active product line with slower refresh cycle fitting a lower-price device.