You are speaking fact here but do you know that the Electrum wallet stays online most times because you are running on your smartphone with a 24/7 internet connection? This is where hardware wallets beat got wallets, staying offline is what hardware is good at and this makes them the best type of crypto wallet, but Electrum as a open source wallet is better than hardware wallets that are closed source, your point is valid.
I did not see anyone talking about the Electrum mobile app for smartphones.
Electrum mobile is great if you want to make frequent transactions or payments, but if safety is your primary concern I recommend using Electrum on an offline computer. If you need to make transactions, you can always use Electrum on a smartphone or online computer in watch-only mode.
I am not saying you should not use a good open-source hardware wallet, but if one is too expensive for your budget there are other options that can be almost as secure (if not more so).