The iPhone SE Makes Tech Reviewers Crazy (Premium)

As a consumer of tech reviews, you may rarely if ever consider how difficult it is to recommend products to people with different needs and wants. But I’ve been writing laptop and device reviews for over 20 years, and this is something I understand all too well. And it’s interesting for me, sometimes, to read or watch reviews by others and see them struggling with this very issue.

The new iPhone SE is a great example.

Put simply, this is a product that no tech reviewer would ever use themselves. It’s too small, it has an outdated design, and it comes with an even more outdated single-lens camera system. It’s inexpensive, sort of, but the $429 entry-level model comes with just 64 GB of storage in an era when 256 GB is pretty much the norm. Worse, it doesn’t compare well in many ways with other entry-level handsets, like the Google Pixel 5a, which is terrific, and the coming Samsung A-series, which, according to leaks, will indeed be as awesome as its marketing.

As a reviewer, there are two ways you can approach this kind of product. You can just be honest and explain that this phone isn’t for you; it exists only so that Apple can make inroads in less well-heeled markets of non-affluent customers who will accept its aged design and features because they’re never buying a real iPhone anyway. Or you can try to make up reasons why someone might actually consider such a phone. Perhaps you’re so enamored of Touch ID—or so unhappy with Face ID—that you’ll put up with its many other limitations. And, hey, it has the latest Apple A-series chipset and mostly supports 5G, so what the heck! Future proof!

Fair enough, I guess. But if you absolutely must have an iPhone, and really, really, prefer smaller handsets, you have better options. And yeah, they’re even more future-proof in the sense that you won’t resent the device in a few years. I would point you to the iPhone 13 Mini, which starts at $700 (with 128 GB of storage, a similarly equipped iPhone SE is $479). Or a refurbished iPhone 12, which starts at $619. Yes, both are more expensive. And yes, you get what you pay for. Any Apple fan would agree with that argument.

Here’s what I wouldn’t do, using just one review as an example. Mostly because it’s so infuriating.

In a list of rationalizations for the new iPhone SE, New York Times reviewer Brian X. Chen, who would never be caught dead using such a device, cites “you don’t care about what the number of camera lenses or pixels on a screen tells your friends and colleagues about your wealth.”

Um. What.

No one cares about that. What people care about are real-world issues. Battery life. Photographic quality. And so on.

Indeed, according to most surveys, taking quality photos is the number one criterion for many smartphone buyers today. Those who do spend big on an iPhone, Samsung, or Google flagship are doing so, at least in part, for that very functionality. And what they’re also doing is putting up with the bulging, multiple camera lenses that make a mockery of the devices’ otherwise excellent designs and, for most, covering up the expensive phone with a case. These users are sacrificing looks—not showing them off to others—for something that really matters to them. As for the nonsense of “the number of pixels on a screen,” please. No one is bragging about that either.

In the sense that the products we buy—be them clothes, electric cars, homes, jewelry, whatever—say something about us, there’s an argument to be made that the truly sophisticated and well-adjusted don’t waste money on pointless things. I had a friend who drove a decades-old Geo for an astonishingly long time, in part because he could easily get Toyota parts and it was reliable. This was a guy who could have easily afforded a luxury vehicle of almost any kind, but the car just wasn’t important to him. I wouldn’t have done that, but I really respected him for it, and I can tell you that he is in no way swayed by what the number of camera lenses on his Google Pixel says about him. What he is concerned with is that it takes great photos. He’s living his life for him, not for others.

Getting back on topic, what’s interesting about Chen’s other excuses—sorry, reasons—for choosing an iPhone SE is that they apply as much, if not more, to other handsets. “You don’t care about whiz-bang features like ultrafast cellular speed.” Everyone cares about faster speeds, but few have ever seen real-world advantages to using 5G, is what I think he’s trying to communicate there. “You correctly recognize that smartphone technology has been around for so long that you should be paying less for it today.” Absolutely. There’s no need for the fastest Apple chip in a phone if the rest of the components or the form factor are so problematic. And “you upgrade to a new phone only when you truly feel you need to.” Check. Everyone should do that. Most people probably do. Smartphone tech is mature, after all.

The people who don’t do that, by the way, are enthusiasts and, yep, tech reviewers. Like Brian X. Chen. Who is doing his damnedness to make a case for a phone that, let’s face it, no reader who can afford and/or is inclined to read The New York Times is ever going to consider. It’s like faux egalitarianism.

To his credit, Chen does list the device’s pros and cons. He mentions alternatives, including the iPhone 13 Mini and the Pixel 5a. But he can’t help but recommend the iPhone SE. Because he’s conditioned. Conditioned to just like and recommend Apple products. And conditioned to try to find use cases that do not in any way apply to him. I get that. But they don’t apply to his readers either. And that’s where I get lost.

I write for a different and more technical audience. And while I will broadly generalize us all and say that none of us should or would even consider such a phone, I do at least realize two things. One, you’re all smart enough to make your own decisions, and you will evaluate this and other products using your own criteria, which will likely include reading and watching many reviews, where you can look for recurring themes and consensus. And two, because you are not part of what I’ll call the audience of normal (meaning non-technical) people, you may, in fact, be part of some subset of the minority of people in first-world countries who have some use cases that are met by this phone. That is, you may choose an iPhone SE despite the fact that you could afford a more expensive handset not because you have no other choice. You are living your life for you. As you should.

I feel for Mr. Chen. Writing for a mainstream publication like The New York Times must be difficult in some ways. But he at least has no worries about the paper’s relationship with Apple: he could easily explain that this phone isn’t for his target audience and not worry about the company not sending future review models as they always will. But he didn’t do that. And that, I don’t respect.

Get an iPhone SE or don’t. Most of you won’t. But regardless of where you fall on this debate, at least have good reasons for your decision. Not made-up reasons.

And while I have your ear, please. Let me brag about the number of pixels on my screen and what that says about my wealth.