The premise of this article is false. The SE has never been a repackaging of obsolete iPhones. Every SE has contained the same SoC as the current flagship iPhone. The differences have been in terms of peripherals and displays and, of course, size and price. When the SE shipped it had the same dual-core A9 CPU and 2GB of RAM as the then-latest iPhone 6, 6s, and 6s Plus. All of those devices identify themselves as "iPhone8". When the SE2 shipped it had the same 6-core A13 SoC and 3GB of RAM as the iPhone 11. The 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max, and SE2 all identify as "iPhone12". The SE3 shipped with the same A15 SoC and 4GB of RAM as the 13 and 13 Mini. In fact the SE3 has the same CPUs as the later 14 and 14 Plus. Every device from the 13 Mini through the 14 Plus identifies as "iPhone14".
So it has never been the case that iPhones SE "were basically just iPhones that were older than the current flagship".
