16E makes more marketing sense than the SE 4 based on rumored specs. But with the expected price gap, I would not be shocked if Apple went to $599 for the 16E and stopped selling both 14 and 15 at the same time.
Then you have Good, Better, Best Apple loves to do:
$599 16E
$799 16
$999 16 Pro
EDIT: Adding that when the 17 launches in the fall, that is the perfect time to drop the 16E price to $499 as it will have 'old' hardware compared to the new models. This would also allow Apple to offer AI on all sold phones. This makes perfect sense IMO.