Even the iPhone SE is not actually budget-friendly, but more like for "mid-range" money. The approach you should take if you want a relatively cheap iPhone in 2024 is to go for a slightly older model.
The iPhone 14 is the last to use Apple's 12MP main camera after the company equipped the base iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 series with 48MP main cameras. Still, the iPhone 14 takes very good photos ...