We have a SD Elite in the family and that 3 mm is nice. The difference between the SD7s3 and the MTK7200 or better is minimal (both 4mm) and the additional cost isn’t worth it.
SD vs MTK matters when buying a grey-market HK phone in Europe but other wise, MTK seems to surpass MTK in support.
But, meh, I don’t find the (a) series compelling from a prices performance perspective, especially with the weak camera firmware.