[midoridensha]

Do you mean overly-small SMT components, or any SMT components at all? For the former, I dunno, I guess bragging rights.

For the latter, it's because many parts are only available that way, you can make PCBs much smaller (and PCBs' cost is based on area), and also reasonable-size SMT components are just a lot easier to work with, once you have proper equipment and enough practice.