Come on. No one is saying some won’t think it’s worth that much money. Hell note8 costs about as much too.
The issue is cook saying it’s value priced. Value price is the old iPhone which does all the same things for a lot less money. If the X is value priced what is the iphone6/7?
You're mistaking the hype meaning of "value priced," i.e. "discounted off regular retail price," for the classic economic meaning of priced by value, meaning the value it offers the buyer determines its price, which is the definition Cook was using.
Here is treatise on the difference between Luxury phones and the value of expensive phones in reference to the iPhone X that may give you some insight on the differences of value pricing, although it doesn't address that issue per se.