William Gallagher
Apple's new budget-priced yet feature-packed iPhone SE is now available to order online, with the first shipments arriving at customers' doorsteps about a week after order.
Following Apple's announcement of the new iPhone SE, the online Apple Store is back up, and taking pre-orders. First shipments of the new phone are expected to arrive on Friday, April 24, which is when it will also be available to purchase from carriers and other resellers — and perhaps at retail locations as well.
The new iPhone SE is the long-awaited successor to 2016's original budget-priced model. The second generation iPhone SE is a combination of an iPhone 8-style casing, with many iPhone 11 internals, including the A13 Bionic processor.
While it's larger than its predecessor, the new iPhone SE is the smallest iPhone that Apple currently sells. It has a 4.7-inch LCD display compared to the 6.1-inch screens of the iPhone 11 or iPhone XR. It's a single-camera iPhone, but now comes with a dual SIM option and Wi-Fi 6 compatibility.
Connectivity is 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6, with Bluetooth 5.0. LTE antennae are 2x2 MIMO, and the device is dual-SIM. For the camera, Apple has opted for a single wide-angle 12-megapixel sensor and lens combination, rather than moving to a dual or triple-camera setup.
Apple claims similar battery life to the iPhone 8. The company notes local video playback of up to 13 hours, streaming video playback of up to 8 hours, and up to 40 hours of audio playback.
This new iPhone SE represents a particularly sweet spot in terms of its price and performance, but the cost of its lower price is that it does lack certain features. Most visibly different between this iPhone SE and any other current model is that it uses the much older Touch ID technology instead of Face ID, for instance.
Apple's updated iPhone SE is clearly superior to the iPhone 8 that it replaces in the lineup, but the choice between it, the iPhone XR, and the iPhone 11 is a little harder
Prices start at $399 for a 64-gigabyte model and move to $449 for 128GB and $549 for 256GB. The iPhone SE is offered in black, white, and (PRODUCT)RED, with sales of the latter temporarily going toward Global COVID-19 Relief Fund. Pre-order incentives have already started to roll in from wireless carriers and third-party retailers, from free with trade offers to cash discounts, when ordered on installment.
Apple, as well as accessory makers, are marketing new cases for the handset as well.
Christine McKee
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14 Comments
it’s A$829 for 128GB in Australia.
Interesting the front is always black even if choosing a red or white back. The original SE could have a white front. Most often we put our phones in a case covering the back, so back color is less a consideration than the front in a way.
Express delivery scheduled for Mon April 27, but at the time you have added VAT, customs etc it comes at the equivalent of $550 for the base model.
I would have liked to have compared this to the Pixel 4a before making a purchase. The camera will be a big selling point for me. I'm assuming the iPhone SE will probably record better video judging by the iPhone 12 and Pixel 4 comparisons.