You can get a new Android phone for $100. The cheapest iPhone also looks and feels like a phone from 2018 with its huge bezels, LCD screen and 64GB storage. Compare a similarly priced Galaxy A54 or Pixel 6a. iPhone SE is faster but unless you're gaming are you really going to notice?

No everyone cares that much about how their phones look or want to have huge amounts of storage. If you're in it for the long run (6-8 years of support so why not) the faster CPU will be useful while the slower Androids will become intolerably slow.

You're gonna notice when your budget Android is barely usable after a couple years. It's well known at this point iPhones age better.

The iPhone SE performs basically the same as the most expensive model you can buy. And it's not about gaming, it's about basic tasks - moving around the OS, cold starting apps, editing photos/videos, etc.