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I don’t agree with the article’s suggestion to get a current iPhone SE if you’re on a budget. Apple charges $429 for it at minimum, and that to me is a ripoff
by dangus 3y ago
I don’t agree with the article’s suggestion to get a current iPhone SE if you’re on a budget.
Apple charges $429 for it at minimum, and that to me is a ripoff considering that you can go all the way back to the iPhone 13 and get the same SoC with a much better overall phone rather than having a decade-old design.
If you just want an iPhone that is supported by Apple, the best value option is probably to go with a used iPhone 12 (under $300) or a 13, for about the same price as the SE.
Even if your 12/13 has an older battery, the SE has poor battery life to begin with.
iOS 17 is supported on phones going back to the XS, which is 2 years older than the 12. So if you buy a 12 now and sell it in 2 years, you’d expect to lose a bit less than $100 on those transactions. Basically you’d spend $50 a year to have a supported phone assuming that Apple never lengthens their support window further (which I think is unlikely now that they are starting a trend of the non-Pro iPhone using the previous lithography with two model years in a row using the same processor).
But also, a whole bunch of cheap MVNO cellular carriers will just give you an old but supported iPhone for free (e.g., Metro by T-Mobile gives you an iPhone 11 for free at present). Presumably you could just shop phone carriers every couple of years and find one that’s willing to kick a less-old iPhone your way for nothing.
On the high end, you can always find a US postpaid phone company willing to essentially subsidize phone depreciation with their trade-in deals. If you are in a large family and/or have high usage requirements like tethering, postpaid with bill credits is the way to go. You basically get a free iPhone Pro device every 3 years.
- Apocryphon 3y agoWhat if you simply want the 4.7" form factor?
- tom_ 3y agoThe iPhone 12 Mini could be an option.
- Apocryphon 3y agoWhile I admire those who stick to the first-gen 2016 iPhone SE, of which the 12 Mini is its successor, I stand by the iPhone 6, the first larger phone of its kind. Everything else is a phablet, imo
- dangus 3y agoThe 12 mini is not a successor to the original SE in neither concept nor positioning. The idea of the original SE was to reuse an old form factor and old production line to make a bottom tier low cost phone with newer internals. The iPhone 12 mini was a new design that made no compromises compared to its larger iPhone 12 cousin. Exact same hardware, camera, screen tech, etc, just a smaller size battery. I strongly disagree that “everything else is a phablet.” After shrinking some bezels the current iPhone lineup is very similar size to the iPhone 6/6S/7/8. The iPhone 15 is 5.81 x 2.82 x 0.31 inches The iPhone 6S is 5.44 x 2.64 x 0.28 in I realize that fractions of an inch make a big difference on mobile devices but that’s still not a whole lot of change. Under 10mm of additional height and under 6mm of extra width.
- Apocryphon 3y agoAlright fair regarding the minimal bezel post-iPhone X design not actually being phablet-sized. But also I want Touch ID, and no notch, so there you have it. > The 12 mini is not a successor to the original SE in neither concept nor positioning. They’re the most similar in terms of size.
- jeffbee 3y agoThe 12 Mini does not have the same ergonomic factors. The screen is larger, and there are UI elements (further) out of reach of one-thumbed users.
- dangus 3y agoFine, replace what I said with the 12 or 13 mini. They’re both better phones than the SE.
- user3939382 3y agoI still like the size and shape of my 4S. It was easy to use the whole screen with one hand. If they offered it again I'd buy it in a second.
- turtlebits 3y agoYou can get a prepaid carrier locked iPhone SE 3rd gen (w/ an A15) for $150, in which you can get unlocked after a year (or 60 days, depending)