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iPhone SE (2016) iPhone SE 2020 owners, regrets, happy?

S

satchmo

macrumors 603
Original poster
Aug 6, 2008
5,234
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Canada
Looking for something to maybe tie me over until the iPhone 13 arrives.

My carrier is greatly discounting the SE so I was thinking this could be ideal. It amounts to about $240 which I figure I could sell for about the same in 6 months time.

The only negative I’ve really heard is not so good battery life. The A13 would be a major step up.
(I’m currently using an iPhone 6 so the move would be very familiar.)

Thoughts?
 
Do it. After, you may find less reason to go to a 13 or 12S or whatever it’s gonna be called. Check sales on SE at Walmart too.
 
I had the X for a year, then the SE2 for a year, and now a 12 Pro. I traded the X for an SE not due to the cost but mainly because I wanted to try a smaller phone again. But now that I have the 12 Pro I realize I much prefer the Face ID + no home button setup and because there's no "chin" at the bottom, the SE and 12 are actually very close in size with about 30% more screen real estate. And yes, the battery life is noticeably better on the 12...I'm also REALLY enjoying MagSafe for car-mount usage and charging.

But if cost is the main concern here, then obviously the SE is a no-brainer.
 
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usagora said:
I had the X for a year, then the SE2 for a year, and now a 12 Pro. I traded the X for an SE not due to the cost but mainly because I wanted to try a smaller phone again. But now that I have the 12 Pro I realize I much prefer the Face ID + no home button setup and because there's no "chin" at the bottom, the SE and 12 are actually very close in size with about 30% more screen real estate. And yes, the battery life is noticeably better on the 12...I'm also REALLY enjoying MagSafe for car-mount usage and charging.

But if cost is the main concern here, then obviously the SE is a no-brainer.
Click to expand...
Funny I tried an iPhone 11 Pro for a few months (lent to me) and the FaceID was great when it worked. But often when it's on the table, I'd have to angle my face just right for it to work.

But the plan is not to keep the SE, but get a 13 mini (or 12 mini on sale).
 
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My son has the SE2020. Seems pretty happy with it. I upgraded him from the original SE which he has used since 2017. I don't know what he is doing with his original SE, but he asked to keep it and it's still on the WiFi network at home so I guess he has some purpose for it.
 
Nukemkb said:
Do it. After, you may find less reason to go to a 13 or 12S or whatever it’s gonna be called. Check sales on SE at Walmart too.
Click to expand...
True. If it's fast, reliable and gets me through the day it might be enough.

As I said, battery was the only concern, which is why I'm looking forward to a beefier battery in the iPhone 13 mini.
 
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satchmo said:
Funny I tried an iPhone 11 Pro for a few months (lent to me) and the FaceID was great when it worked. But often when it's on the table, I'd have to angle my face just right for it to work.

But the plan is not to keep the SE, but get a 13 mini (or 12 mini on sale).
Click to expand...

Sure, if it's 180 degrees (flat) in relation to your face, it's not going to unlock unless you angle your face towards it or angle the phone towards your face, but I find that I barely have to angle the phone up for it to detect my face if it's lying on the desk. I use a MagSafe stand when it's charging on the desk, so in that case it's good to go because it's already angled towards by face. It's an easily solvable "issue" if you're at your desk most of the day and don't want to pick up the phone to unlock it - just put it on some sort of mount.

Any reason your 6 can't tide you over? Are you running into performance or battery issues or just want upgraded cameras, etc? SE is definitely a great phone too, don't get me wrong - and a great bang for the buck.
 
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usagora said:
Any reason your 6 can't tide you over? Are you running into performance or battery issues or just want upgraded cameras, etc? SE is definitely a great phone too, don't get me wrong.
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Yeah battery issues and soooo slow it’s almost unusable. And I’m not even a power user, just basic email and some social media.

Trust me, I’m trying to milk this iPhone 6 for as long as I can. Ideally I can hold out but 5 months is long time.
Hence the SE might do the trick. And resale would be decent assuming Apple doesn’t update the SE in Sept.
 
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I am a very light user and find the SE to be ideal. I like the size and speed and do not find the battery usage to be a problem. For me, the battery lasts more than a day. That being said, I recently stayed at a hotel with no USB charging or power outlet and my phone battery died. However, I had a portable USB power pack which very quickly recharged the phone. The only thing I would like it to have is the chip that allows precise location finding of Airtags.
 
Last edited:
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satchmo said:
Looking for something to maybe tie me over until the iPhone 13 arrives.

My carrier is greatly discounting the SE so I was thinking this could be ideal. It amounts to about $240 which I figure I could sell for about the same in 6 months time.

The only negative I’ve really heard is not so good battery life. The A13 would be a major step up.
(I’m currently using an iPhone 6 so the move would be very familiar.)

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
I have an SE which I'm holding on to this fall when the 13 Mini comes out or when Apple decides to put 12 Mini on sale with a Gift card which they do during the Black Friday event. The SE feels slow now and the bloated OS 14 plus the apps made my meagre 16Gb SE pretty much useless to hold the apps I used to be able to do. But I only do lite social media stuff. Initially I thought about the SE 2020 but then I decided I want to own a premium iPhone in the class of an iPhone 12. I never had a premium phone and the more I try the 12 Mini, the more I really like its features. I plan to use it with Air Tags mainly for its precision finding with its U1 chip that only the iPhone 11 and up supports. Once the borders are open and COVID is behind us, the 12 Mini would fit me better. So I'm on a fence right now.

By the way, the screen size of the SE 2020 isn't as small as you think compared to the 12 Mini and you really need to like the PWM of the 12 Mini if it gives you a headache or not. I had to try the 12 Mini's screen for a long time to make sure that the PWM on the Mini isn't giving me a headache. Certainly, the SE 2020 screen color and whites are somewhat better, in my opinion and how my eyes see them, compared to the 12 Mini.

PWM stands for Pulse Width Modulation is a method the 12 Mini uses to display the screen and is subject to flickering. I did notice it more compared to the SE 2020, but not enough to cause me migraine headaches. Your experience may differ. Best to try out a PWM and play with it for 15-30 mins and if it gives you headaches, then you know PWM is not for you.
 
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iluvmacs99 said:
I have an SE which I'm holding on to this fall when the 13 Mini comes out or when Apple decides to put 12 Mini on sale with a Gift card which they do during the Black Friday event. The SE feels slow now and the bloated OS 14 plus the apps made my meagre 16Gb SE pretty much useless to hold the apps I used to be able to do. But I only do lite social media stuff. Initially I thought about the SE 2020 but then I decided I want to own a premium iPhone in the class of an iPhone 12. I never had a premium phone and the more I try the 12 Mini, the more I really like its features. I plan to use it with Air Tags mainly for its precision finding with its U1 chip that only the iPhone 11 and up supports. Once the borders are open and COVID is behind us, the 12 Mini would fit me better. So I'm on a fence right now.

By the way, the screen size of the SE 2020 isn't as small as you think compared to the 12 Mini and you really need to like the PWM of the 12 Mini if it gives you a headache or not. I had to try the 12 Mini's screen for a long time to make sure that the PWM on the Mini isn't giving me a headache. Certainly, the SE 2020 screen color and whites are somewhat better, in my opinion and how my eyes see them, compared to the 12 Mini.

PWM stands for Pulse Width Modulation is a method the 12 Mini uses to display the screen and is subject to flickering. I did notice it more compared to the SE 2020, but not enough to cause me migraine headaches. Your experience may differ. Best to try out a PWM and play with it for 15-30 mins and if it gives you headaches, then you know PWM is not for you.
Click to expand...

Just to be clear, the sluggish SE you're referring to is not the 2020 SE model, correct?

Good to know about PWM.
 
satchmo said:
Looking for something to maybe tie me over until the iPhone 13 arrives.

My carrier is greatly discounting the SE so I was thinking this could be ideal. It amounts to about $240 which I figure I could sell for about the same in 6 months time.

The only negative I’ve really heard is not so good battery life. The A13 would be a major step up.
(I’m currently using an iPhone 6 so the move would be very familiar.)

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
If you’re going from an iPhone 6, any current iPhones will be a step up. The 2020 SE will be an excellent phone for you, leaps and bounds over the 6. If you find the battery life of your 6 to be usable, the 2020 SE will be fine. Since this is a temporary phone, I wouldn’t worry too much.
 
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satchmo said:
Do you think it would be hold it's value better than an SE in 5 months from now?
Click to expand...
If we're talking about the price, then no, but overall Xr is a better phone. It has better battery life and face unlock.
 
Absolutely no regrets here. I even got AC+ on my SE2 because if every new iPhone has PWM, I may need to use the SE2 for a long, long time.

I'm a very light phone user though. According to Settings - Battery, I average 10-30 minutes screen-time a day.
 
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I bought SE in Jan this ear. Later on, the phone was given to my daughter. I bought 11 and XR. Looking the price diff with SE is only abt $100, I think XR is better value of money.
 
Isamilis said:
I bought SE in Jan this ear. Later on, the phone was given to my daughter. I bought 11 and XR. Looking the price diff with SE is only abt $100, I think XR is better value of money.
Click to expand...

The SE2 has a dated design but objectively speaking, it actually has better internals than the XR.

The XR does win on battery, though.
 
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SE2 is a great phone. Very fast and snappy.

the biggest selling point is the price or deals people can obtain.
Mine was free via a generous corporate partner discount. Can’t complain with that. Very fast and snappy performance
 
The 2020 iPhone SE got me into the Apple eco system with a phone(not completely new as I had a 2012 iMac at the time. It did everything I needed but since I got my stimulus payment and a much bigger than expected Tax Refund I decided to upgrade to the 12 Pro Max and the 512GB storage. Deciding where to download all my music was an issue as with both the iPad and the SE(both 128 GB models) used about 40% or so of the storage. With the Pro Max it’s 10%. I also decided for the 1st time in years I deserved to have the top of the line technology. Funny thing is phone cost more than my iMac. I know they came out with new iMacs but having boot camp was somewhat as important as I have applied for some work at home jobs where Windows is needed but Boot Camp can be used.
 
iluvmacs99 said:
I have an SE which I'm holding on to this fall when the 13 Mini comes out or when Apple decides to put 12 Mini on sale with a Gift card which they do during the Black Friday event. The SE feels slow now and the bloated OS 14 plus the apps made my meagre 16Gb SE pretty much useless to hold the apps I used to be able to do. But I only do lite social media stuff. Initially I thought about the SE 2020 but then I decided I want to own a premium iPhone in the class of an iPhone 12. I never had a premium phone and the more I try the 12 Mini, the more I really like its features. I plan to use it with Air Tags mainly for its precision finding with its U1 chip that only the iPhone 11 and up supports. Once the borders are open and COVID is behind us, the 12 Mini would fit me better. So I'm on a fence right now.

By the way, the screen size of the SE 2020 isn't as small as you think compared to the 12 Mini and you really need to like the PWM of the 12 Mini if it gives you a headache or not. I had to try the 12 Mini's screen for a long time to make sure that the PWM on the Mini isn't giving me a headache. Certainly, the SE 2020 screen color and whites are somewhat better, in my opinion and how my eyes see them, compared to the 12 Mini.

PWM stands for Pulse Width Modulation is a method the 12 Mini uses to display the screen and is subject to flickering. I did notice it more compared to the SE 2020, but not enough to cause me migraine headaches. Your experience may differ. Best to try out a PWM and play with it for 15-30 mins and if it gives you headaches, then you know PWM is not for you.
Click to expand...
OLED isn’t perfect. LCD definitely does look better for some applications.
 
No complaints really. The camera could be better but that’s the main difference compared to the latest generation of phones so it would be too strong of a value if it had a better sensor.

My only regret is not getting it sooner during last year’s Black Friday sale. I feel a little less satisfied paying full price for a one-year-old phone even if it’s still a relatively great value.
 
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