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iPhone SE (2016) Upgrading my SE

S

Sam_S

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 20, 2016
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I am looking to upgrade me iPhone SE however I am facing a dilemma.
I love iOS but don't like the size of the new devices...

I am looking at the
iPhone XS
iPhone Xr
Pixel 3

or do I wait for another 6+ months in the hope there is a special event and a iPhone SE2.

Any advice?
 
Sam_S said:
I am looking to upgrade me iPhone SE however I am facing a dilemma.
I love iOS but don't like the size of the new devices...

I am looking at the
iPhone XS
iPhone Xr
Pixel 3

or do I wait for another 6+ months in the hope there is a special event and a iPhone SE2.

Any advice?
Click to expand...
SE was introduced in March.

If you can wait, you might want to pay attention to whatever Spring event Apple is having next year to see if they introduce a smallish phone.
 
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Sam_S said:
or do I wait for another 6+ months in the hope there is a special event and a iPhone SE2.
Click to expand...
It's dead bro. The SE was a one time thing. Apple has changed. They no longer sell budget phones, aside from their current lineup of the iPhone 7/8. Ever since the X released, it's been premium pricing through out all of their product lines.

I would love a SE styled X, but I know it's not going to happen.
 
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I caved and moved from the SE to XR. It was the best move I could have made. I love the new phone. But I do still use my SE when I go for a run.
 
CrazyForCashews said:
It's dead bro. The SE was a one time thing. Apple has changed. They no longer sell budget phones, aside from their current lineup of the iPhone 7/8. Ever since the X released, it's been premium pricing through out all of their product lines.

I would love a SE styled X, but I know it's not going to happen.
Click to expand...

Lol been dead. The SE has become the XR what don't they understand
 
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If you like your SE and it works for you, why not keep it? It's a great little portable device. I'd love to have one. (I have a 5c as my carry-everywhere phone and I really enjoy it).
 
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I used to own an SE and was anxiously waiting for the SE2... when it wasn’t announced last Sept, I gave up hope on it completely. I resigned to the fact I’d have to get a larger phone, probably the X or Xs. And because I killed my SE (jumped into a pool with it) and ended up using my wife’s old 6 since last June, I was getting used to a “larger” phone anyway. Even though the Xr was even bigger, I decided to wait for its release to compare it to the X/Xs before making a final decision. I ended up with the Xr because the X/Xs was already a little on the large side for me, and the Xr didn’t feel that much bigger. I’ve had it for a few days now and some things are still taking time to get used to, but overall I’m very happy with it. The extra screen real estate helps overshadow some of the ergonomic difficulties its size presents.

That said, go spend some time with the phones in a store. I was at an Apple store for about 30 minutes comparing the Xs and Xr before I made my decision.
 
FeliApple said:
If you like your SE and it works for you, why not keep it? It's a great little portable device. I'd love to have one. (I have a 5c as my carry-everywhere phone and I really enjoy it).
Click to expand...

Yeah thats a point. Seems to have slowed down a little bit since the last update....
 
Sam_S said:
Yeah thats a point. Seems to have slowed down a little bit since the last update....
Click to expand...
My advice: never update it any further. I'm using an iPhone 6s on iOS 9.3.3 flawlessly. Leave it in whichever version it is now.
 
The SE is not dead except in the US and Europe. Apple is moving production to India if it hasn’t done so already.

Too bad. I would have bought the XR had it been smaller than the X/XS.
[doublepost=1542419239][/doublepost]
FeliApple said:
My advice: never update it any further. I'm using an iPhone 6s on iOS 9.3.3 flawlessly. Leave it in whichever version it is now.
Click to expand...
Nonsense. Works great on iOS 12.

If sync’ing with other Apple devices, it works best when everything is on current OS/iOS.
 
mikehalloran said:
The SE is not dead except in the US and Europe. Apple is moving production to India if it hasn’t done so already.

Too bad. I would have bought the XR had it been smaller than the X/XS.
[doublepost=1542419239][/doublepost]
Nonsense. Works great on iOS 12.

If sync’ing with other Apple devices, it works best when everything is on current OS/iOS.
Click to expand...
It does work great on iOS 12. Barring battery life, compared with iOS 9. (Which is the exception and not the norm.) iOS updates cripple devices. Want to happily use the SE for a long time? Don't update it any further. Pretty sure iOS 13 will impact performance and further impact battery life (it's already far lower than what it was on iOS 9).
 
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mikehalloran said:
So... you know this when the beta has yet to be released? Would you like some facts to go with your opinions?

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/201...e-6-plus-and-ipad-mini-2-its-actually-faster/
Click to expand...
Odd that iOS 12 is faster than iOS 10... But still not enough. I have tried an iPhone 6s on iOS 9 and an iPod Touch 5G running iOS 6. Every single app on both, barring one exception (photos, on the iPod Touch 5G, at 1.2 seconds IIRC), were under 0.9 seconds, with the majority being under 0.8 seconds. Do you want an app launch cripple example? The iPod Touch 5G on iOS 9. Native apps took three times at much, with the majority being at or around 2.3 seconds. Keyboard lag was everywhere, battery life was awful.
Now, app launch might be fine, but how's third party app performance, and, most importantly, how's battery life? I'd say battery life is almost slightly above half; and battery health is largely not an issue unless severely degraded.
Besides... I did say iOS 12 was the exception on performance. All the rest were awful, if compared 2+ iOS versions behind (generally, the first version is fine. For example, the iPhone 6s and the 9.7 iPad Pro perform on iOS 10 just like they did on iOS 9, battery life included. Go two versions up, though... And it's a different story).
If we take that into account, then barring the only exception on iOS's history, it is a fact that iOS updates are a detriment to performance and battery life.
 
Sam_S said:
I am looking to upgrade my iPhone SE however I am facing a dilemma. I love iOS but don't like the size of the new devices...
Click to expand...
Easy, don’t buy anything.

There won’t be an SE 2, but there is a little hope for an XR Mini. The current XR is a smaller version of the XS Max, because it shows the same points @2x instead of @3x. In the same way one could shrink the regular XS screen to show the same content at a lower resolution on a smaller device.

Nobody knows what Apple has planned.
 
Sam_S said:
Yeah thats a point. Seems to have slowed down a little bit since the last update....
Click to expand...
Maybe do a reinstalll. I have an SE and an XR and I think the SE still seems fast.

I got used to the XRs size and face ID pretty fast. And batterylife is a huge upgrade. You should consider it imo.
 
tromboneaholic said:
Yet you recommended people stay on versions of iOS with known vulnerabilities even though iOS 12 has been optimized for performance on older devices.
Click to expand...
Again, it's not crappy advice. Battery life decreased heavily, compared to the original version, even though performance is fine.
 
Gudi said:
Easy, don’t buy anything.

There won’t be an SE 2, but there is a little hope for an XR Mini. The current XR is a smaller version of the XS Max, because it shows the same points @2x instead of @3x. In the same way one could shrink the regular XS screen to show the same content at a lower resolution on a smaller device.

Nobody knows what Apple has planned.
Click to expand...
iPhone SE was introduced in March, so there is still a glimmer of hope for a smaller X-style phone to be introduced at an Apple Spring event next year (alongside a rumored iPad Mini update).
 
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I always liked the SE, so I would suggest the iPhone 6S. It is not too much bigger without a case, and can be handled easily. I have smaller hands, and have no problem with the 6s.
 
Sam_S said:
Yeah thats a point. Seems to have slowed down a little bit since the last update....
Click to expand...
It's perspective. I bought an iPhone SE on 11Sep2018 because my 4S was stuck on iOS 9.3.5, needed a midday recharge, and couldn't run the latest versions of several apps. The SE is only ~⅜" longer than the 4S and on iOS 12.1 seems fast to me.
 
Get a used X (with warranty remaining). I would suggest getting an 8 but the X is just marginally bigger with an astronomically bigger screen in pretty much the same footprint.
 
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