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Looks to be a great phone and has had overwhelmingly good reviews.

I’ll be moving over to this from my XS later in the year.
 
$50 is not an insignificant amount in the budget market. But really the main selling point for this is the camera, and if you don't care about that, I'd say the $50 more is worth spending for SE long term.
Here in Europe the iPhone SE costs 466,90€, the Pixel 4a 340€. So it is a clear choice, which phone you will choose, if you want one for a reasonable price.
 
"Competitor" is not a great word. You have to sell more than a few thousand to compete. The SE will sell millions here. You are taking the people who wouldnt spend the money for an Apple device anyway, $50 or not, if price is the deciding factor; Apple isnt "losing" anything there.

IT's a compellling device for the price, but another $50 and wireless charge, 90hz, IP (or at least like Oneplus does and put the water resistance in), and bigger battery would have been the better choice. Id spend the extra few bucks on the OnePlus Nord here frankly if it was an Android device (no wireless charge but worth the few bucks extra).

In Europe, the iPhone SE costs at least 110 Euros (130 USD) more than the Pixel 4a. Your guess may be true for the US but it certainly does not apply to markets where Apple is not competitively priced to begin with. Apple may insist that they do not want to lose money due to adjusting for higher sales taxes. But Google does just that to not end up with weirdly inflated seeming prices.
 
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Here in Europe the iPhone SE costs 466,90€, the Pixel 4a 340€. So it is a clear choice, which phone you will choose, if you want one for a reasonable price.

Same thing here in Canada, the iPhone SE is priced more expensive than the exchange rate at $599 plus taxes vs $479 for the Pixel 4A.
 
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Tried a 3A last year. Came out of the box with two or so month old security patch that wouldn't update. Had to sideload apps that wouldn't show up in the Play Store, Instagram(!) being one of them. HARD pass on anything Android since then.
 
Is that a hole in the screen???

I can't wait in 5 years when Youtube will be filled with videos like "The dumb displays of old smartphones, what were they thinking?!?".
 
Not sure if iMessage being a must-have is US-specific? Everyone I communicate with here in the UK is on Signal or WhatsApp.
That’s the point. The best option is always the one that puts you in touch with your demographic. It isn’t about being better but about being more useful. As far as I know, blue or green bubbles are important for US teenagers, but you’d expect people to grow up anyways.
 
Yet the SE is exactly just that. They simply shoehorned a newer processor into an existing form factor and slapped on a different back case.

Instead, why not keep the X, Xr and Xs around. They have the molds and parts. In fact, they would have charged more than $399 and made even more margin. Now would it have sold as well as the SE? Perhaps not...but as you said, they wouldn't have to sell as many.

I would have much preferred they not play that game that only 'premium' phones get an all screen design. Those who prefer bezels could have simply gone with an iPhone 8.
But that’s the whole point of the SE iPhones, Apple take the most refined version of the previous generation of iPhones (iPhone 8 in this case) and then fit it with the same internals as the current generation and price it at 399$. They did the same with the 1st gen SE by giving a 5s the internals of the iPhones 6s. The 3rd gen SE will probably be the iPhone XR/11 chassis with the same internals of the iPhone 13 or 14 (Which will likely have no Notch and Face ID under screen). People will probably mock it for having a notch, just like they mock the SE 2 for having big bezels!!!
 
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In Europe, the iPhone SE costs at least 110 Euros (130 USD) more than the Pixel 4a. Your guess may be true for the US but it certainly does not apply to markets where Apple is not competitively priced to begin with. Apple may insist that they do not want to lose money due to adjusting for higher sales taxes. But Google does just that to not end up with weirdly inflated seeming prices.
Same thing here in Canada, the iPhone SE is priced more expensive than the exchange rate at $599 plus taxes vs $479 for the Pixel 4A.


True but also consider usable lifespan. The Pixel is 3 years of updates, the SE is 5 years.

Do the math money over time and it's still much closer than it looks. Ie the $479 vs $599 is costing you $13.31/month vs $9.98/month. The SE cost of ownership is about 3/4 the cost. Up-front price isnt everything.

That $120-130 difference gets you 2 more years of support; not insignificant. Plus a current gen processor; that 730G is going to be a dog in about 2-3 years.

Clearly Google is willing to take a loss on the exchange rate as they are desperate to sell phones; as Pixels are traditionally poor sellers overall. Apple doesnt need to do that.
 
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That $120-130 difference gets you 2 more years of support; not insignificant. Plus a current gen processor; that 730G is going to be a dog in about 2-3 years.

I think you need to add the cost of one if not two battery swaps for the iPhone to the overall cost over a 5 year lifespan.
 
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True but also consider usable lifespan. The Pixel is 3 years of updates, the SE is 5 years.

SE's minimal DRAM and battery specs won't be able to handle more than two years of OS updates without slowing down or prematurely shutting down. SE's battery life is already bad at 100% capacity so imagine when it hits 80%. Add a minimum cost of $50 for battery replacement plus $50 for power bank to get through the day to price of SE then $400 for phone replacement after two years.

In comparison, Pixel 4a's better hardware specs with 6GB DRAM and larger battery is good for at least four years and even when OS updates stop after three years Android already has more advance OS features and much better backwards compatibility so that adds about another five years based on the fact that current apps require a minimum of Android OS 6.x that was released in 2015. Altogether that's roughly eight years of usable lifespan with only cost of battery replacement.
 
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True but also consider usable lifespan. The Pixel is 3 years of updates, the SE is 5 years.

Do the math money over time and it's still much closer than it looks. Ie the $479 vs $599 is costing you $13.31/month vs $9.98/month. The SE cost of ownership is about 3/4 the cost. Up-front price isnt everything.

That $120-130 difference gets you 2 more years of support; not insignificant. Plus a current gen processor; that 730G is going to be a dog in about 2-3 years.

Clearly Google is willing to take a loss on the exchange rate as they are desperate to sell phones; as Pixels are traditionally poor sellers overall. Apple doesnt need to do that.
I've used phones well past their support for the longest time now. As long as the hardware still holds up (which they mostly have), then they can still function as intended. Android phones get separate security updates and to included apps outside OS updates too.

I have old games on my iPod Touch 5 (ios7) and iPad Air (ios8) that mostly run without a hitch. Not updating your OS doesn't automatically shut down your phone.
 
Well every review of the 4a say it's a far better device than the SE, better camera with night sight included, better price, better screen, better speakers, better design, more ram/storage and looks nicer even with a plastic back.

Google even improved the video recording, they have finally nailed it.

Apple should have not been lazy and used a 6 year old designs old parts and made a smaller XR instead if they insist on staying with LCD.
 
Lol it's like most people commenting here don't realize all those points you've mentioned. The screen is vastly superior and a big part of the experience, as well as speakers, modern design etc.

SE beats it only with the soc (not a small thing I'll admit), wireless charging, video quality and water resistance (which I'd say Apple overstates).

At $479 vs $599 where I live, pixel 4a is Better value imo.

Well every review of the 4a say it's a far better device than the SE, better camera with night sight included, better price, better screen, better speakers, better design, more ram/storage and looks nicer even with a plastic back.

Google even improved the video recording, they have finally nailed it.

Apple should have not been lazy and used a 6 year old designs old parts and made a smaller XR instead if they insist on staying with LCD.
 
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