Apple iPhone SE (2020) Specification, Price, and Release Date

Within the week, Apple announced the new iPhone SE (2020) on the exact rumored date, even though they did not hold a flashy event – it was just a press release. Despite the sound of the name, the Apple iPhone SE (2020) is more of a refreshed iPhone 8 than the original iPhone SE. You can see the new iPhone SE as an iPhone 8 with the latest chipset and a better camera. It also comes in some new colors too.

Apple iPhone SE (2020) Features

The Apple iPhone SE (2020) has the same iPhone 8’s 4.7-inch “Retina HD” screen with True Tone and support for Dolby Vision and HDR10 playback. The display is surrounded by large bezels, and below it is a sapphire crystal-covered capacitive Touch ID fingerprint sensor, just like in the iPhone 8. The new Apple iPhone SE is powered by the A13 chipset just like the Apple iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max.

The Apple iPhone SE (2020) camera benefited from the new chipset too. The single 12MP shooter at the back features improved Smart HDR photography, thanks to the new power inside the chipset.

For portrait shots, in lieu of a secondary camera, Apple has gone with something called “monocular depth-sensing”, which uses machine learning to detect depth and faces. We will have to see how this compares to the first three Google Pixel generations, in terms of the quality of portrait mode shots from one lens.

The camera has “cinematic” video stabilization – and you can record up to 4K at 60fps, with stereo audio. The front-facing selfie cam is still a 7 MP unit, and this has some portrait mode effects too.

Apart from all these, the Apple iPhone SE (2020) is an iPhone 8. The new device even ships with the same measly 5W charger in the box. However, the new iPhone SE does support 18W charging, you just need to buy another adapter (or use a beefier one you may have around the house). If you have such an 18W adapter, expect the battery to charge from 0 to 50% in about 30 minutes.

The Apple iPhone SE (2020)– which is what we are calling it for sanity’s sake – also supports fast wireless charging, Wi-Fi 6, LTE-A, and dual SIMs, although the second one is eSIM.

Gone is the 3D Touch tech, now replaced with Haptic Touch. It has IP67 water and dust resistance rating, meaning it can be submerged in up to 1m of water for up to 30 minutes.

The new iPhone SE (2020) has grown a lot in size compared to the original SE model, but then again phones have been doing that left and right for the past few years. So it may just qualify as a ‘compact’ device in this day and age, depending on what your exact definition of that may be.

Apple iPhone SE (2020) Price, Availability, and Release Date

The Apple iPhone SE (2020) will be available in black, white, and red colors and pre-orders for the device are ongoing at the moment. The shipment and release date of the iPhone SE (2020) is slated for April 24, 2020, in the United States of America. You can buy one for $399 with 64GB of storage. So, price-wise at least, it does fit its chosen name. If you need 128GB, you will have to pay $449, while the 256GB model is $549.

With a qualifying trade-in, you can pay just $229 for a brand-new iPhone SE (2020), and Apple offers installments too, starting at $9.54 per month.

The Apple iPhone SE (2020) price in Europe and the United Kingdom is at €479 and £419, respectively.