It's not the same thing. Each of these products have tiered versions targeted at different income levels. If there was only one iPhone version being sold at $1500 then it would probably be dead by now.
That's like saying I would only release iPhone 14 Pro Max and if you can't efford that there is always two year old iPhone 12. Not very appealing, IMO.
Also: despite the frequent comments by folks here that did not watch the announcement, this is a business-focused device first. It is not targeted towards consumers or gamers. That is the Quest 2, which will continue to be sold.
