To put your argument in context, I guess you are comparing it to A57 (used in SD 808 and 810, to name a few) and A72 (SD 820 anyone?), which are currently available and in use. A53 being the low-end of the three. Right? I mean, you can argue SD625 is just a dye-shrink of SD615 (and by extension, SD616 and SD617) with a newer Adreno GPU.
However, in my opinion, unless you intend to run heavy apps/games, A53s are more than capable to get you through at least for the next two years (which is roughly the time I upgrade my phone again - or maybe less). So, for a lot of people, there is no need to go higher than this to run their facebook/twitter/whatsapp and the occasional games.
Unfortunately, though, the ZF3 price is too close to Mi5, which is using 4xA72. So why not get the A72 instead, right? I mean, I am very much considering the Mi5 right now - ever since Asus Malaysia confirmed their pricing anyway.

Again, Qualcomm want you to confuse. It's not SD652. It's SD625. This is because Zenfone 3 is a very slow phone compared to RN3. RN3 half price of Zenfone 3 but beat it in everything. Just show how crappy is Zenfone 3.