Why I Think the iPhone SE is one of the Most Important Phones on the Market
Since Apple announced the iPhone SE a couple of weeks ago, I have had a lot of people reach out to me and say “did you see the new iPhone?” “what do you think?” “are you going to get it?” So, after some pondering I decided I would share my thoughts on the iPhone SE, and why I think it is one of the most important phones on the market.
If you would like this article in video form, here is the video I made!
Let’s get this out of the way up top, no, I have no seen the 2020 iPhone SE in person. Consider this a satellite review if you will. If Apple stores were open right now, I would probably have already gone and seen it. Although I am a content creator on YouTube who talks A LOT about tech, I’m not in the ranks of iJustine or uravgconsumer (yet) so I don’t have the ability to buy one for myself to try. However, from just Apple’s website alone, I know that this phone is one that I love.
Now let’s get to those first questions I got.
Did you see it??
It’s an Apple launch…yes I saw it (lol) I drink the Apple Juice, how could I not know!
What do I think?
As I mentioned, I think it is one of the most important phones out there right now. First of all, the price point. A high-end smartphone for 400 bucks. That is amazing. Yeah, you can say you can get an Android phone for that price, but it is going to be either a random brand on Amazon or an older generation flagship device. Samsung, OnePlus, Google, HTC, or Motorola, you are not going to find a new budget phone in the ranks of the SE for this price point. The closest you could argue is the Pixel 3a, with the Snapdragon 670, or the Moto G Power with the Snapdragon 665, but they don’t really match up to the A13 Bionic chip of the SE. The 3a came out in early 2019 with late 2018 guts. The SE is out in early 2020, with late 2019 guts. Snapdragon 665 of the Moto G Power came out in early 2019, and the phone itself just came out right before the SE. So about a year of technology difference for the similar prices. In reality, that is not a huge difference, and at least if you are an Android user who wants/needs a new phone, but is on a budget, you have a couple of options, which is great for the consumer. The thing that feels different to me is that although the SE might not be the main flagship of Apple, it is the first thing you see on apple.com. If you get what I mean.
Now back to the new SE, the physical phone varies quite a bit from the first generation SE. The first SE being a 5S body, and the new SE being an iPhone 8 body. I love this change because the phone is bigger, but you’re not getting into the world of the massive plus series, or even the iPhone 11 Pro Max. It's a nice compromise. Another thing I LOVE is the revival, you could say, of Touch ID. I love Face ID, don’t get me wrong, but I have ALWAYS LOVED Touch ID. I have it on my iPad and my MacBook and I think it is an absolute dream. It's fast and frankly more reliable than Face ID, especially in this time of wearing masks that block half your face. The home button is something that I don’t entirely “miss” but I know I wouldn’t hate to have it back either. The build of the phone matches the iPhone 8 aside from the newly centered Apple logo and the only black front glass. The iPhone 6–8 range of iPhone shape is one of my favorites, so I’m glad to see it being revived.
The fact that Apple took the body of an old phone and frankensteined it with the brains of the iPhone 11 is the success story that the kooky Transylvanian doctor wishes he had. Although this idea might be unconventional, I personally think it's great.
I think overall, this phone is pretty great. It is not AMAZING or groundbreaking by any means. But it's pretty great. We already know the price point, then you’ve got current generation processing power. The resolution of the screen is a Retina HD, so no OLED, but the retina is nice and clear for the basic consumer's eye. The camera is just a single lens, but it still has the ability to do Portrait Mode on people on the front and the back. Video goes all the way up to 4k at 60fps which is pretty rad. The battery life gives you 13 hours of video alone, so you can imagine what all-day use would be like. The reason I say this phone is great is that you have the basic features, but they’re not basic quality. This phone has everything that the general population is going to need in a phone, but higher quality and a little more advanced.
Now to the last question I’ve gotten quite a bit. ‘Am I going to get this phone?” Nope. Not because it's a bad phone. I don’t need a new phone, my iPhone XS is still working fantastically for me. I think this phone is a great phone that is marketed for the general public. Perhaps not your so-called “power users”, people who are photographers or videographers, who game on their phone or anything like that. This phone, in my opinion, is designed for the average user. The person who likes iPhones, and someone who needs all the basics. This phone can do everything that anyone would need. If you’re looking for extras, then that's when you go over to the 11 Pro.
This phone is PERFECT for the older consumer or the basic consumer. Perhaps the person who says “I don’t do a whole bunch of fancy stuff on my phone”. The person who has a dying iPhone 5C that doesn’t want to give it up because they can't justify spending a thousand dollars on the latest and greatest technology. For the consumer who wants a phone that can make phone calls, download apps, take pictures, and go on the internet, this is their phone. Apple sprinkled a little special sauce on a plain phone, and that makes it the above-average basic phone. It is a great phone. It's not the best on the market, but it’s because it doesn’t need to be. It just needs to be a smartphone. This phone keeps the basic user in mind and that is why I think it is so important. Just because the advanced technology is out there doesn’t mean that people want it, let alone want to pay for it. People joke that SE stands for simple edition, and that is really just what it is. Its the latest and greatest iPhone, made simple.
I wish I could get my hands on this thing, but quarantine/not having the budget to test out a phone makes that a little hard. I’ve been living vicariously through all my favorite tech YouTubers, and it seems to be just as great of a phone in person as it is on paper.
If you would like this article in video form, here is the video I made!
