Get an iPhone 8 instead, probably the best value out there for iPhones.

If you are worried about shelling out money, remember that an iPhone 8 isn't $449, it's $449 minus whatever you sell it for in a year (probably not much less). And it's even less if you just buy it used or Apple refurbished in the first place.

The iPhone SE works fine but the screen size is too small for many apps that get scrunched up pretty badly. You’re using a screen size that a very small fraction of Apple users are still using, which means app developers don’t care to make it work nicely for you.

The camera is bad by modern standards, I can see a big difference even for small 4x6 prints, and Touch ID is the slower 1st generation. It's just really old hardware all around.

On the plus side, it has good battery life, a headphone jack, and it's still an iPhone running full iOS.

> Get an iPhone 8 instead, probably the best value out there for iPhones.

I have an SE and love it, but this. However, consider the deals out there for something like the 7. Metro PCS has the iPhone 7 for $50, I'm sure there are comparable deals out there too.

IMO MVNO phones take too long to unlock, that’s a big gripe of mine on deals like that.

I’d also be worried about the 7 audio IC issue.

There are definitely trade-offs to save $400

Why an iPhone 8 over a 7? Is the performance much different?

Price wise an iPhone 7 Renewed on Amazon is only ~$250-260 (128gb) versus an iPhone 8 which is around ~$400 (64gb).

In addition to Dangus' comment with iPhone 8 you'll also get the same CPU that powers the iPhone X, which will be more than fine for quite a few more years. Furthermore I'm confident it will be supported with major software updates for a long time. It is the sweet spot for customers on a low budget or looking for a small phone. The iPhone SE, as much as I like to form factor, isn't a good new purchase at this point.

My understanding is that the iPhone 7 has a few more common hardware issues than the iPhone 8. Apparently a lot of iPhone 7 models are affected by messed up speakers and mics, the audio IC defect. Kind of an important feature.

I’ll admit that’s a pretty big price difference but I wonder if that has to do with the 7’s hardware issues making it a phone to stay away from. Or maybe it’s just old and that’s why it’s cheap.

Ah, maybe hardware issues. I will say, I have an 8 and the camera randomly broke on mine, and when I talked to someone who repairs them, she said that lately many of the 8 cameras have been breaking.

That said, the repair was fairly easy, it was a $30 camera and 20 minutes to repair it.

I had to replace my SE battery earlier this year (well, I didn't absolutely need to, I did it because I intend to get another two years out if it). Otherwise mine is still chugging along perfectly well.

Software wise it's a perfectly fine device, definitely some limitations, but only because the processor is a four+ year old design. Some SPA or otherwise heavy webpages cause it to choke (ex: it hates USAToday), but 99% of what I try to do works great. Per Apple and MacRumours, the SE will get iOS 13. No idea how well that will run, but we'll see.

If you can get one in good shape to hold you over you'll probably be happy with it.

Yeah I replaced mine at the Apple Store this year (Apple covered it). Now I get well over a day's battery on it, amazing. Granted, I intentionally avoid installing hefty apps so that would also help achieve this kind of battery life.

Before that it would die in ~2hrs and instantly die in high heat.

I have an SE still, it works completely fine. I don't really use my phone for much besides maps/social media/web browsing so I never felt like i needed a more powerful device. The camera is great.

I have an SE running iOS 13 beta and it’s great. Some functionally will of course be disabled , but it feels modern.

Works about fine, also just makes the cut for iOS 13 support.