The new iPhone 17e now comes with 256 GB base storage and yet the price stayed at $600. In spite of the current DRAM/flash shortage and price hikes.
The regular 17 already sold really well due to many features having being added to the baseline while sticking to a more palatable $800. But now, if you want cheaper, you can get a similarly spec’ed 17e for $200 less. The primary trade-off being the poorer rear camera setup of the 17e. OTOH if that is indeed your issue, Apple still has you covered. A refurb 16 fixes that camera issue while covering every other aspect of the 17e (I claim A19 vs. A18 has no practical relevance) and that refurb starts at $620 too. That’s at 128 GB though, so if you need/want that extra storage, you can get one of the 256 GB refurb 16 models to put you at $700. You’re still $100 below a standard 17 and yet only $100 above the camera-challenged 17e.
Almost feels to me like if you’re shopping for a regular iPhone, right now everybody gets to be happy.