I will argue that some of those people don’t want to purchase the “base” model because of its place in the iPhone 14 line-up. With the exception of on-device storage, the iPhone 14 models are pretty much identical, but Apple has long taken advantage of people’s perception and how terms like “base model” make them view it as “cheap”.
Far too many people will buy the 1TB model and then tell people they bought the “top of the line” model as if it’s better, faster and more powerful than the “base” model when in fact it is not.