The $399 iPhone SE is available to pre-order now

Apple's iPhone SE for 2020, available for pre-order now

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.