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iPhone 8/Plus iPhone 8+ refurb or iPhone SE?

G

galaxy6

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 21, 2019
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Just looking around and found a refurb iPhone 8+ for £399, which is just less than the price of a new SE at £419 over here. I was wondering is the 8+ still worth it? I’d be looking at keeping it for a good few years.
 
personally (for me) I'd choose the 8 plus without hesitation. I'd rather buy a refurbished 8 Plus than get a 2020 SE for free. - because I much prefer the larger size. Speed difference won't be noticeable.
I have an 8 (not 8 Plus) and it's plenty fast.
 
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I wouldn’t use a 8+/11 if you pay me $999/yr to use it. Let alone pay a dime for it. I’m looking forward to the smaller iPhone 12.
 
Galaxy6, I got both, an iPhone 8 Plus which I’ve had since new (April 2018) and a iPhone SE 2020. I intended to just keep my 8 plus until the 12 series came out, but took an exception to the SE as its unique and got it on my employee discount through PC world for £390. Honestly if you have no other mobile computing device then I would suggest the 8 plus for its larger battery and 1080p screen. It’s A11 chip is still faster than new android flagships. Also what’s the battery percentage capacity of the refurb your getting?. If you do have an iPad or Macbook, then I would suggest the SE for it’s compact form factor and newer A13 chip that will probably give it 2 extra years of support. Also the single lens camera on the SE is considerably better than the 8 plus camera in my opinion. If you got any further questions don’t hesitate to ask me.
 
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The 8+ is a horrendous phone. It’s a dated surfboard, it was dead on arrival tbh. The XR and 11 are much better and tbh I’d rather a 5C than such an unwieldy, clumsy, stupid phone
 
KOTN91 said:
The 8+ is a horrendous phone. It’s a dated surfboard, it was dead on arrival tbh. The XR and 11 are much better and tbh I’d rather a 5C than such an unwieldy, clumsy, stupid phone
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This is obviously all subjective. I prefer the larger size. Others prefer the smaller size. To each their own.
 
galaxy6 said:
Just looking around and found a refurb iPhone 8+ for £399, which is just less than the price of a new SE at £419 over here. I was wondering is the 8+ still worth it? I’d be looking at keeping it for a good few years.
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If you plan on keeping it, I'd advise to go for the SE. I switched from the 8+ to the SE and this thing doesn't get warm or slow. Love it.
 
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I just ordered an IP SE yesterday, just gonna be used mainly for work phone calls and use CarPlay for streaming music!
 
obviously from your post if you don't have to have the bigger size screen the iPhone SE is the no brainier choice.. and that you intend to keep it for a few years the SE should get your much further.
 
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It pretty much boils down to size, although the SE does have a newer, faster processor.

If you want a big phone, 8+. If you want something small and manageable, SE.

I have an SE and was using my daughter’s 8+ a couple days ago (she is actually switching to the SE herself). I could not believe I had carried around phones that size for years (and loved them, don’t get me wrong), but it made even my previous iPhone 11 seem small.
 
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Once you're used to the larger screen size and longer battery life of the + models, an 8 won't satisfy.
Even it's it called an SE.

Unless its the 8+SE coming 2021.
 
Consider the SE 2 an iPhone 8S in all but name.

It’s got a somewhat faster CPU (A13 vs A11), but that’s about the only advantage over the 8 Plus that I can see.

The 8 Plus has got a bigger display, a dual lens camera and longer battery life.

I would get the 8 Plus myself, but as others have said here, it’s a subjective decision.
 
galaxy6 said:
Just looking around and found a refurb iPhone 8+ for £399, which is just less than the price of a new SE at £419 over here. I was wondering is the 8+ still worth it? I’d be looking at keeping it for a good few years.
Click to expand...

Honestly, I would just get the iPhone 8+, if you're into small phones than the iPhone SE will suffice, but you'll save more money getting the refurb. Luckily iPhones get yearly updates and security updates for years so you won't have to worry about not getting updates.
 
I ended up getting the Red ipSE 128GB given tmobile was out of White :(. Pretty got the phone for the half off plus i had to put a deposit down (account status) installment 24months with zero monthly just have to kepe the installment going or end up paying the difference. Looks like the Daughter gets her ip11 back. KIDS!
 
It Comes down to the size, plain and simple. The 8+ is essentially a large phone, where the SE is compact and ‘pocket friendly‘. That’s what you really need to base your decision on versus just the core specs’ between both phones.
 
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TGM85 said:
Consider the SE 2 an iPhone 8S in all but name.

It’s got a somewhat faster CPU (A13 vs A11), but that’s about the only advantage over the 8 Plus that I can see.

The 8 Plus has got a bigger display, a dual lens camera and longer battery life.

I would get the 8 Plus myself, but as others have said here, it’s a subjective decision.
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The SE also has a better camera. Might be only single lens, compared to the dual lens on the 8 plus, but the overall image quality is significantly better. Selfies also have more detail. This is mostly due to the A13 chip‘s computational photography. Also I am pretty certain that the speakers on the SE sound better than 8 plus.
 
snipr125 said:
The SE also has a better camera. Might be only single lens, compared to the dual lens on the 8 plus, but the overall image quality is significantly better. Selfies also have more detail. This is mostly due to the A13 chip‘s computational photography. Also I am pretty certain that the speakers on the SE sound better than 8 plus.
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I have an 11pro here I ordered (was thinking of doing that rather than waiting for fall because of the size of that phone - just a good in between). Honestly, I didn’t find the speakers of even THAT phone to be noticeably better than the SE. I mean certainly I don’t need power speakers on a phone anyway, but I was shocked that the 11 pro’s speakers didn’t sound better than they did.
 
aakshey said:
I wouldn’t use a 8+/11 if you pay me $999/yr to use it. Let alone pay a dime for it. I’m looking forward to the smaller iPhone 12.
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I'd use them all day if you pay me $999/yr to use it. Can I have a dozen?
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galaxy6 said:
Just looking around and found a refurb iPhone 8+ for £399, which is just less than the price of a new SE at £419 over here. I was wondering is the 8+ still worth it? I’d be looking at keeping it for a good few years.
Click to expand...
It depends on how much you want the plus size. I loved it for watching movies on the train (haven't done that for three months now), and you fit more information on the screen. I'd say a refurb iPhone 8 non-plus would be worth £100 less than a brand new SE, so you are paying £80 for getting the 8+ size.
 
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Galaxy6 let us know what you decide, they are both fantastic phones so you cant go wrong whichever you choose.
 
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