The $400 Smartphone You Deserve (Premium)

Apple’s an interesting company. And it has always been able to generate positive press for doing next to nothing, like finally replacing the terrible butterfly keyboards that it tortured its MacBook customers with for years. Huzzah!

The iPhone SE falls into this same category. And it was interesting watching reviewers trying to outdo each other in praising the company for doing nothing particularly special. Yes, the iPhone SE starts at only $400. And that’s the end of anything good I have to say about it.

Not that there aren’t some other positives, of course. Many will point out the A13 processor, the same chip that Apple uses in its current flagships. Some will claim that they prefer small displays on their phones, or that the iPhone SE is an obvious choice for children. And it will be supported with updates for years, yes.

Whatever.

No product is completely pointless. But like the Surface Go 2, the iPhone SE suffers where it matters most, both today and in the future. This device has an old-fashioned design, which isn’t the problem in its own right, but rather that the display is so tiny it will be useless or hard to use for many. It has a tiny battery and just an OK camera. And that iOS that everyone is such a fan of suddenly, with a ton of problems that I guess we’re just going to ignore now because, hey, it’s only $400. It’s like we’ve lost sight of what’s important.

Here’s what I find to be more important.

An adequately sized display. If Apple just used an edge-to-edge design here and offer a Max/Plus-sized model too, the iPhone SE would be easier to recommend. This isn’t about design, it’s about usability. If you’re going to spend your day on a phone, the thing you look at is job one, not that processor behind the display.

Future-proofing is important too. I’ve always argued that the problem with Android not getting updates is a red herring, but whatever. Even the iPhone SE fans here will admit that we all complain about getting too many updates in Windows 10, but for some reason this is desirable on our phones. Did we all collectively forget how many updates, each requiring a reboot, that Apple shipped in the months after iOS 13, all designed to fix its many bugs and problems? I guess we did.

But future-proofing involves a lot of factors. The quality of the camera. The ability to use that size display over time. The amount of storage. The ease of signing-in. The quality of both the platform you’re using and the apps that run on top of it, and how that quality is impacted by, wait for it, the size of that display. It’s a matrix of things.

If the iPhone SE had been an iPhone 11 with a two-year-old chip for the same price as the phone Apple delivered, I’d applaud it because the chip isn’t a big deal. We’re at the point now where any mobile chipset from the past few years will work fine for years and years to come. An iPhone 11 SE would have made a lot more sense. I mean, Apple just optimized iOS to run great on older chips, remember? No? Still excited by the price? Gotcha.

But yes, we all have different needs and wants. And it’s clear that the iPhone SE has inspired the minimalist in many. And I find that aspect of this discussion kind of comforting. We’ve been pushing forward with smartphones, and raising prices so steadily, for so long that I feel like we’ve collectively lost the script on what’s really important. One of the things I’m excited about with the coming Pixel 5, for example, is the rumor that Google may opt for a mid-level chipset rather than the most expensive Snapdragon. I think that’s an excellent decision: Android, like iOS, doesn’t need the highest-end chipset to run effectively.

But the Pixel 5, whatever its innards, won’t sell for $400. It will cost hundreds more. Fortunately, there is a growing number of Android smartphones that start at about $400 that seem to make a lot more sense than the iPhone SE. And if you are seriously considering buying an iPhone SE, I strongly recommend researching these phones as well.

Which direction you go will depend, as always, on your wants and needs. And yes, you may ultimately decide that the iPhone SE is the phone for you. Or your child. Or whomever. That’s cool. It’s not what I would choose, and it’s not what I recommend. I respect your choice.

But instead, I would at least examine the Samsung Galaxy A51 and the Google Pixel 4a (which will also be made available only in an SE-like small size for some reason; I would have wanted a Pixel 4a XL for myself). My heart is with the Pixel because it will have the superior camera, and I prefer its polycarbonate body, efficient and customizable Android software, and larger, more modern-looking display; it will also use a hardware fingerprint reader, but on the back where it belongs.

But the Samsung is very interesting too, and it’s here now. For the same price as the iPhone SE, you get a much bigger 6.5-inch edge-to-edge display, a four-lens camera system with ultra-wide and macro choices, a much bigger (like 3x bigger) battery, double the storage (128 GB vs. 64 GB on iPhone SE), and in-display fingerprint reader that doesn’t require the iPhone SE’s gigantic Frankenstein bezels. This seems like a smart buy to me.

So all hail the $400 smartphone. I’m glad it’s happening, even if it’s happening in miniature form over in iOS land. I’m sure Apple will come around. They always do, eventually. And to cheers.