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iPhone SE 2 vs. iPhone XR Buyer's Guide

Not understanding the hate towards the new SE. It has a flagship processor, 3GB of RAM, Touch ID, wireless charging, WiFi 6 all for $399. It is a better phone than the iPhone 8 and even with the 8 discounted down is still less expensive. Come on people. It is a hell of a deal. It’s not as small as the SE from 2016 but it’s still a small phone by today’s standards.

I think there’s some confusion in regards to Retina vs Liquid Retina as well. Liquid Retina is only different in that it is “essentially” edge to edge to provide a full screen experience like the iPhone X generation (a la XR and iPad Pro 2018/2020). No difference in PPI or tech other than Liquid Retina display devices has tap to wake.
 
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GuruZac said:
Not understanding the hate towards the new SE. It has a flagship processor, 3GB of RAM, Touch ID, wireless charging, WiFi 6 all for $399. It is a better phone than the iPhone 8 and even with the 8 discounted down is still less expensive. Come on people. It is a hell of a deal. It’s not as small as the SE from 2016 but it’s still a small phone by today’s standards.
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Being smaller is just a side-effect of it using an older (industrial) design. It uses the older design so it can be manufactured cheaper and sold cheaper. The older design ensures that those motivated enough to want a modern-looking iPhone still buy the more expensive models.
 
Apple (and other companies) are going to have to get very creative over the next few years, to deal with a shifting market base. With potentially 1/3 to 1/2 of Americans un/underemployed, the high-end market will collapse. Expect increased focus on budget/low-end options, across the tech sector.
 
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Still no USB-C connector?

Honestly Apple, if you’re not going to axe Lightning in favor of USB-C just go completely wireless and dispense with the connector completely. One less part with supporting logic and power circuitry and, more importantly, one less ingress point for fluids and other debris that damage the the phone. Also, I can start recycling all the damn cables and adapters I’ve accumulated over the years and use the boxes I store them in for something useful.

it just occurred to me. Getting rid of the connector would thumb the eye of the EU who are trying to force you to standardize on USB-C. That alone would be worth going connectorless. Just side step the regulation.
 
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DesertNomad said:
The best reason for me to get an SE (upgrade from my iPhone 7) is the Dual SIM. I have both US and European SIM cards so this would allow both to be in the phone at once.
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Doesn't one of them need to be an eSIM? Or can this phone take 2 regular SIM cards??
 
The new size of the SE doesn't seem like much of a big deal but some of us who use an Otterbox Defender case know that this small difference in size will be compounded on the overall size when the case is installed on the new SE as compared to the original SE.
 
MacBH928 said:
I would like to know if you actually feel the difference between iphone SE and iPhone 7, because this is my upgrade path. Last thing I want to do is pay $400 and feel nothing has changed.
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Given that you can't *feel* a huge difference between any of them now, thanks to Apple's optimization of older models, it's probably not a huge difference. The main things that should be improved for you are battery life (assuming your 7 is older?), camera (though probably not significant if you're enjoying the 7's photos now and don't care about Portrait photos), and wireless charging capabilities (which I used to think didn't matter, but now I'm pretty hooked on it).

That said, if your 7 is showing signs of degradation, but you love the form factor, the SE seems like a great upgrade at a great price that will be supported for years to come (that's the position I'm in with my 8).

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GuruZac said:
I think there’s some confusion in regards to Retina vs Liquid Retina as well. Liquid Retina is only different in that it is “essentially” edge to edge to provide a full screen experience like the iPhone X generation (a la XR and iPad Pro 2018/2020). No difference in PPI or tech other than Liquid Retina display devices has tap to wake.
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Thank you for saying this. Liquid Retina was mainly made to help the larger screen look acceptable with the same PPI - it doesn't make the Xr or 11's screens "better" than the 8 or 7 or any previous 326 ppi screens...

satchmo said:
Except this isn’t what SE fans were asking for.
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SE never meant small... SE meant "special edition" - i.e. a unique model with repurposed parts that doesn't follow their normal product line-up.
 
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Is the iPhone SE actually black or is it the same Space Grey that the iPhone 8 was. I'm color-blind so the iPhone 8 looked brown to me which I did not like at all.
 
The old iPhone SE was 113g. The SE2 is 148g, it’s still pretty light. It’s slightly thinner than the old SE: 7.3 vs 7.6mm.

The iPhone XR weighs 194g and is 8.38mm thick. It’s bulky. Even the 11 Pro is pretty heavy at 188g.
 
Does somebody know if the front-camera of this iPhone SE will be an improvement on video calls vs Xr, 8 or 7?
 
I wish Apple would have made the iPhone SE bezels smaller and went with a in screen or even side button Touch ID. Except if they did that no one would buy the 11 or xr
 
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mattopotamus said:
depends on what you value:

downgrades:
OLED vs LCD
Camera (TBD)
FaceID (preference)

upgrades:
A13
WiFi 6
Gigabit LTE
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Fine with either LCD or OLED, can’t tell the difference to be honest. I do see the difference when I do compare my friends iPhone 11 Pro with my X. The screen is so much sharper.

Camera is another, but not by much, the images I capture on my 6s and X look pretty much the same. The 11 Pro again is where you see a dramatic difference. The wide angle and telephoto lens captures more information in the shot from greater distance. It’s really sharp too. This would definitely make me upgrade but it’s not detrimental.

Prefer Face ID hands down. When I bought my 6s brand new, within 3 months Touch ID stopped working. Don’t miss it.

A13, meh, A11 is still super fast, no lag time launching or using apps.

WiFi 6, don’t have a router to take advantage of it, but I live in a house with a led chimney, so, it could be a benefit, but not detrimental. Replying to you right now on WiFi with full bars.

Gigabit LTE, again, not that detrimental and it is partly due to my usage. I have WiFi at home, the little bit of time I am allowed to use my phone at work, wouldn’t make a huge difference.
 
Hey, I'm doubting whether I should get the new iPhone SE. I currently have an iPhone 6+ and I want to upgrade to a newer phone, but I'm still doubting. What kinda sets me back from the SE is its battery life, but the phone will be supported for a longer time than the XR. The iPhone XR does have a longer battery life, but is already two years old. In Europe, the price for the SE starts at 489 euros, and the XR is around 599 euros. What would you guys recommend to buy?
 
Lots of these negative comments are not understanding that this isn’t an upgrade for people with iPhone 8 models, or maybe even iPhone 7 users. This if for the 5s, SE (me) and 6, 6s users.
 
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now i see it said:
The 8 Plus (now discontinued) was arguably apples best iPhone they ever made. While it may be gone now, it's hard to believe (unfathomable) that there won't be a replacement for it in the future.
They're well aware of the eyestrain issues some people experience when looking at their dreadful flickering OLED screens and it's extremely unlikely that none of the higher up managers have problems with PWM too.

My guess — there will be an 8 Plus LCD device replacement some day down the line
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My OLED screen doesn't flicker at all
 
snipr125 said:
Macrumors seem to be speculating on this claim that iphone SE uses the iphone 8 camera lens. Either way Apple have stated categorically in their marketing that the iphone SE has the “best single camera system in any iphone” so its better than the XR camera on this basis alone.
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Well, at least as good. Could be the same.

I don’t have too much expertise in this, but the spec comparison mentions it has the 8’s sensor, not its lens. Plus there’s the image processing of the A13. So we’re really looking at a camera system of the union of sensor, lens, and processor. Perhaps the combination of the three on the SE warrants Apple’s claims?

Unless my understanding is faulty.
 
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