The original 2016 iPhone SE is still arguably the highest performance small smartphone ever released as well. Good thing it's still supported because there's nothing to replace it in the same or smaller dimensions.[1]
It was really good value too. But I had to stop using it because some critical apps I need stopped supporting the smaller screen size and would be disfunctional.
I’m writing this comment from my SE 2016. Since 2016 I had to replace the battery (~30€) and the screen (my fault, ~40€) once each. I don’t plan to replace it before a while!
I'm still using mine. I want a small phone and there's literally nothing to upgrade to, even on Android. The iPhone 13 Mini looks okay, but is still a bit larger.
[1] Here's everything since 2015 that fits in the size criteria: https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2015&nHeightM...