The real problem IMO, if there is a problem, is in pricing. A good Strat can be had for a few hundred bucks. In fact, my latest and fave Strat is not even a Fender; it is a Squier Standard Statocaster I purchased new for $220 a decade ago. Great feel and playability on the neck, the frets were perfect right out of the box, two-point knife edge tremolo is fantastic, the sound was more like my old 70s Strats than any other guitar in the place. And just this year I upgraded it by getting a whole new preassembled pickguard with noiseless pups and the S1 switch. So for less than $500 total I have the functional equivalent of the $1700 American Deluxe Stratocaster.... which is a significantly lower price than any standard PRS.
To which I have to say, "so what?"
There are an awful lot of differences between a PRS and a Strat, enough that comparing them by price isn't really relevant. If an orange costs more than an apple, but what you want is an orange, then it really doesn't matter how cheap the apple is.
No doubt you meant this kind of thing when you said, "if there is a problem."
No one's forcing anyone to buy the orange, so if people want to be more tight with a buck, well, that's cool, too.
As a guy with a few fairly pricy Private Stocks, I can say - for me, maybe not for you - they are a very good value, because they're
that good. And by that I mean, they're that good at being guitars to play, not showpieces.
But no one else has to agree -- after all, it's my decision alone as to what's worth it for me. I think that's the case at any price point.
It's great to have a nice, cheap guitar, and it's great to have a nice, moderately priced guitar, and it's great to have a nice, expensive guitar - whatever floats your boat with an instrument is a good thing. There is no right, and there is no wrong.
Then too, PRS has their S2 line, and I think the guitars play wonderfully and are (just my opinion) preferable to any Strat at a similar price. But I'm not a Strat guy, so that's part of it. To take your analogy a bit further, you can put humbuckers in a Strat and it still doesn't sound like a PRS. It's a different beast entirely, and that's not a bad thing. It's just a thing, no value judgment needed.