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They have the iPhone SE which they explicitly market as a budget option.

Which is still not a budget option. Not in hardware quality, not in customer/product support, not in price. It's a premium product in every way.

What is a budget option, then? The reality is that most people get these phones for free with trade ins to AT&T or Verizon.

The budget option is the phone I can get for 150€ without plan, and then combine it with a separate 5€/month plan from my carrier.

I think you have to seriously consider if there is any market for that. Any $150 Android phone is going to be worthless for modern use.

There's quite a few good Android Go and Xiaomi phones in that price segment.

As you might recall, when the first Moto G was released in that price segment, within of a year it became the most sold phone in several countries.

That's a massive market.

It's only the US, Scandinavia and Japan where upmarket Apple devices are so popular.