$399 is where the prior SE was unveiled, but handset MSRP has bloated since 2016. The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus base models came out at $649-$769 when new, compared to $699-$1099 for the base models of the iPhone 11. On the Samsung side, base model S20 Ultra is pushing $1400.

My personal view is that the next major battlefield for Apple vs Huawei vs Samsung is the developing world, and consumers there are fairly price sensitive (plus they often pay a premium due to import taxes, importer costs, and other add-ons to the retail price). There has to be a huge divergence in the slate of prices -- on the one hand, you have flagship handset expectations going skyward due to 5G, multi-camera, screen improvements, etc -- and on the other hand you have countries like Ecuador and Colombia where an entire month's minimum wage (before tax and living expenses) is insufficient to buy a new iPhone SE, even without accounting for the economic slowdown due to the virus.

Some of the market for the iPhone SE didn't even exist a couple of months ago. Apple only announced online sales and plans to open a store in India after Trump helped negotiate an entry point to that market during his visit a month ago.

Are you suggesting that Apple doesn't respond to its consumer sales environment when choosing pricing?