Yes, it is the budget range. But that doesn't mean there aren't good ones. I've owned numerous Fender and Squier basses, including a few early Korean (late 80s), and I've owned two Affinities which blew the Korean ones away, and a few MIM Fenders too.
The budget range uses lower quality woods and debatably pickups and hardware. However the Affinities I had played great, sounded awesome (so much so I had to take a look under the pickguard to see if it had been modified, but all seemed stock, they sounded that good. The "cheaper" woods used on the Affinities make little difference to the overal sound as they're covered in thick poly coatings.