Like many of us, the iPhone SE hit its peak several years ago.
The highlight came in 2020, when its second-gen model earned the rare accolade, here and here, of receiving gushing 4.5-star reviews from two separate igamesnews editors. It was a simple, compelling deal: compromise on an older design, and in return, you get superb performance at a great price. With its slightly retro look, the 2020 SE wasn’t for everyone, but for those on a budget it was well worth a recommendation. “Not Apple’s best iPhone,” wrote my colleague Jason Cross, “but its best value by a mile.”
As is often the case with later entries in popular series, the problem is that the manufacturer has forgotten what made it popular. Customers appreciated the combination of up-to-date components with a low price and were happy to accept a two-year-old design as a reward. By contrast, last year’s spotty and disappointing 3rd-gen SE tested buyers’ patience by delivering a four-year-old design with the same single camera that still doesn’t have night mode, and added insult to injury by raising the price by $30. Apple also didn’t do enough to address the biggest flaw of the previous model, its mediocre battery life. The iPhone SE had dropped the ball and missed the target.
Still, there’s always next time, right? Yeah, about that.
The iPhone SE 4 could fix what went wrong, but the omens suggest that Apple will rather go too far in the opposite direction. Curiously, sources suggest that the next SE could be based on the current iPhone 14, which will still be fairly new. Unless Apple revises its iPhone strategy, the iPhone 14 will sell for $699 and the iPhone 13 will cost $599 next year. And if Apple keeps the iPhone 13 mini, it will sell for $499.
That doesn’t leave much room for the iPhone SE, which will almost certainly drive the price up sharply. OLED screens aren’t cheap, and Apple’s prices are trending up anyway, especially outside the US. The aging design will be gone, but so will any remaining value. Maybe Apple can keep the new model under $500, but it’s more like a $549 phone at least. And like the 10th generation iPad, it’s not the right price for a phone that’s bound to compromise.
Nothing in particular
It’s tempting at this point to wonder why Apple would bother to keep making the iPhone SE when there doesn’t seem to be an obvious way to combine value and power like it did in 2020. A combination of power with the then-high-end A13 processor, retro charm and price made for a fantastic phone that really felt like a special edition.
But that was during the small window where the iPhone SE made sense – after Apple switched to all-screen phone designs, but before the previous design became insultingly old-fashioned. For a while, the company might repurpose its pre-iPhone X chassis to appeal to those on a budget who crave a Home button, but those days are over. The transition was cemented long ago and interest in home buttons waned just as demand for all-screen designs skyrocketed.
Foundry
Of course, the conditions for prosperity of the SE could arise again in the future. If we end up getting a foldable iPhone, for example, it’s possible that a non-folding design will be marketed and sold as an iPhone SE 7, for example. (I’m pessimistic about the timescale.) Again, this case seems muddier. Non-foldable phones won’t just be a niche offering for eccentric Luddites, but will co-exist alongside foldable devices until we’re all sure they’re not going to snap in half. A significant market will still want to buy a flagship iPhone in the traditional style and will be willing to pay top dollar for the privilege.
Perhaps a simpler example would be the Dynamic Island, the absence of which can be used to differentiate the next SE model (although my own experiences with the iPhone 14 Pro suggest that the Dynamic Island has some way to go). go through before becoming as big of an upgrade as the move from the Home button to the Home indicator in 2017). Or the iPhone mini form factor, which could easily be resurrected in 2024 as the iPhone SE. The iPhone 13 mini, for example, has the same A13 chip as the current SE, a larger screen, twice the storage, dual camera, OLED display, and Face ID for $599. Apple could drop it by $100 next year and apply SE branding to it, and it would probably be as good as, if not better than, the SE 4 that Apple is working on.
For now, the SE just doesn’t make sense. If someone is looking for a cheaper iPhone, the best option is almost always to buy a model from a few years ago, rather than a near-new Frankenstein phone with a 2020 processor, 2018 camera and 2015 design. Apple silicon has a good lifespan, and your day-to-day experience is much more likely to be ruined by an old camera or small screen than an older processor.
In any case, it doesn’t feel like Apple is particularly interested in the budget market the SE was originally designed for. Don’t force it, Apple. Ditch the SE and focus on the flagship phones you really believe in.
