As history repeats itself, the folks at Apple have done it again. Their new iPhone SE 2020 (iPhone SE 2) is here and this is exactly what we were expecting. Just like last time, they have taken an older phone, changed a few internals while keeping the rest exactly the same & released it as an iPhone SE. The leaks are true my friends, the new iPhone SE is an iPhone 8 with a few improvements on board. But, we do need to talk about it.
Let's start with the things that are different this year. The most significant improvement is in the performance section. Apple has used their latest A13 Bionic Chip which is found in the iPhone 11 series. So, with a new brain the new iPhone SE is as powerful as the latest gen Apple flagships. But, the RAM capacity is definitely lower. It has 3 Gigabytes of RAM in all the models. Speaking of models, there are three memory variants this year including 64GB, 128GB & 256GB. The iPhone 8 didn't have a 256GB model and hopefully, the iPhone SE also has faster storage.
Apple also scrapped the slow old network equipment for the same modem that is present on the iPhone 11 series. This is the fastest modem that Apple currently ships so, that's a welcome change. The Wi-Fi setup has also been upgraded to support the faster 802.11ax standards. In easy words, the new iPhone SE supports Wi-Fi 6 which is a significant improvement over the 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) standards. There is also support for Dual Nano Sim cards. The iPhone 8 only had single-sim support. Also, Wireless Charging support is there with 18W fast wired charging but, you need to buy the 18W charger separately. The in-box charger maxes out at 5W.
There is a single 12 Megapixel camera on the back with f-1.8 aperture. Now, Apple may have changed the sensor but, I'm not really sure about that. The front camera remains unchanged with a 7 Megapixel f-2.2 unit. You do get some of the newer video recording features like Stereo Audio recording for videos & QuickTake.
Now as I've mentioned earlier, the rest is almost unchanged. You still get the same 4.7" 1334x750 (HD) Retina Display found on the iPhone 8. That means you're getting the same 1400:1 contrast ratio & 625 nits of Brightness. But, there is no 3D Touch this time. Just like the newer iPhones, 3D Touch has been replaced with Haptic Touch. That can be a good or bad thing based on which one of these you prefer. Also, because it's literally an iPhone 8, Touch ID makes a comeback after years. I know many of you wanted a newer iPhone with Touch ID and now you have one. It's still a 16:9 device so, those ugly top & bottom bezels make their comeback too. Oh, did I mention that it is still IP67 certified like the iPhone 8? Well, I guess that's okay.
Apple did tried to tweak the design ever so slightly so, the phone does not end up looking exactly like the iPhone 8. The Apple logo has been pushed slightly lower so, it's now in the middle. The bottom doesn't say iPhone anymore so, that area is now clean too. Also, instead of the odd looking Grey color, Apple has released a Black color variant. If Black is not your jam, you can get the iPhone SE 2 in White & Product Red variants.
That kinda was all about the new iPhone SE 2020 (iPhone SE 2) but, we still haven't talked prices. The new iPhone SE starts at $399 (~₹30,555) for the 64GB variant. The 128GB & 256GB variants cost $449 (~₹34,384) & $549 (~₹42,042) respectively. Now, I don't have the Indian prices yet but, last few years Apple has counted $1 as ₹100 and created all of their iPhone prices based on that. So, if they keep that tradition going, the new iPhone SE models should cost ₹39900 (64GB), ₹44900 (128GB) & ₹54900 (256GB). But, with the recent GST hike, don't be surprised if Apple launch the models at a higher price. Whatever, we'll update the Indian prices here once they're available.
Price Update: As predicted Apple have gone out of their way & now the 256GB iPhone SE in the US is cheaper ($549/~₹42,042) than the 64GB iPhone SE in India. The iPhone SE (2020) starts at ₹42,500 for the base model. The 128GB & the 256GB models cost ₹47,800 & ₹58,300 respectively.
[Note: The conversion to INR from USD has been done on 15.04.2020]
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