iPhone SE 2020 – What’s New!

 



Exciting news that the iPhone SE 2020 has launched and is available for purchase. Coming in only 3 colors: red, white, and black, this phone boasts a starting price point at $399.99 and 64 gigabytes of storage. The brand-new iPhone SE 2020 will be on-par with some of the most recent iPhone releases. As a result, it is suspected that the value of previous generation iPhone’s will significantly drop. Today we will dive into why the iPhone SE 2020 is such an important release and what you can expect with this very affordable smartphone.

iPhone SE 2020 Features

Don’t be confused about the naming convention for the new iPhone SE 2020, because it is nothing like the original iPhone SE. While the original iPhone SE mimicked many of the features and style of the iPhone 5 series (5/5s/5c), the new iPhone SE 2020 does not. It sports the look and feel of an iPhone 8 with the power and speed of the iPhone 11. Plus, it is packed with a full feature set implicit with the newest iOS version.

The iPhone SE 2020 has the following features in no significant order: 12-megapixel back-facing camera, 7-megapixel front-facing camera, 4.7” Retina HD LCD display with a technology called True Tone which adjusts the screen coloration to match the lighting in the environment, wireless charging capability, IP67 water and dust resistance holding up to quick submersions in liquid, Touch ID on the home button for fingerprint biometric unlocking of the phone, and the ability to record 4k video at 60 FPS (frames per second) using the latest A13 Bionic octo-core processor technology which is capable of 5 trillion operations per second and is the fastest processor of any smartphone. Smart, secure, and fast.

Girl taking photo with silver point-and-shoot camera.
Smartphones are easier to use because the viewfinder is the whole screen and with the touch of a button you can switch from back to front camera for selfies.

Picture Quality

For comparison, many point-and-shoot cameras (one of the most common types of digital cameras) feature between 12 and 16-megapixels. A megapixel is a measure of 1 million small dots of color (or pixels). These pixels create the image that a camera captures. Therefore, a camera with 12-megapixels essentially has 12 million small dots of color to create the image. For example, the more megapixels that an image has the higher quality and more refined the image will appear. Whereas lower megapixel camera images can appear “grainy” and coarse. These point-and-shoot digital cameras run from $199 to $379 for water resistant versions. When you compare the ability of the iPhone SE 2020 to a standard point-and-shoot camera, it’s clear that you should probably just upgrade your phone instead of buying a point-and-shoot camera.

iPhone Accessories and Options

Shopping for accessories will be pretty easy due to the iPhone SE 2020 taking the same form factor as the iPhone 6/7/8 series. Meaning there will be tons of options to customize your new device. For instance, you can even transfer your iPhone 6, 6s, or iPhone 7 or 8 case. Certainly, this will save people the hassle of buying all new accessories. Apple users are accustomed to repurchasing accessories with the size of phones and tablets changing between series (though they did have a good run from the 6, 7, 8 series and now iPhone SE 2020).

iPhone accessories on a table. Headphones, iPad, and protective phone case.

Accessories protect and stylize a smartphone or mobile phone. iPhone 6/7/8 accessories will fit on the new iPhone SE 2020

Tempered Glass

Tempered glass is a great way to prevent cracks and scratches on your new iPhone SE 2020. It appears that an iPhone 6/7/8 tempered glass will fit. Just make sure to apply it carefully to eliminate any bubbles between the phone and the glass. Tempered glass for iPhone’s can run anywhere between $15.99 and $29.99 depending on the quality and composition. Some tempered glass have more clarity and durability than others. Others come with a lifetime warranty replacement option versus leaving you stranded if they break. Here at Genius, we prefer our lifetime tempered glass. We back it with a lifetime warranty and a discount on  phone screen repairs if the impact went beyond what the tempered glass was able to withstand.

Once it is peeled off of the phone, the tempered glass needs to be replaced and not transferred. In other words, the adhesive is sticky only on the first application. They rarely have enough adhesive left-over to stay on the phone if transferred. Alternatively, you could possibly do this for a short period of time if you are in a pinch. Just don’t expect it to be a long-term solution. Also, it may not be appealing to the eye as dust and other lint particles can become trapped under the tempered glass. In addition, the digitizer, which is responsible for reading your finger touch for swiping and tapping, may not be as responsive since the tempered glass has not bonded properly to the phone’s glass.

iPhone SE 2020 Repair Expectations

From a mobile repair store perspective, the iPhone SE 2020 will be a rather easy phone to source parts. Reason being that it uses LCD screen technology such as that available in the iPhone 8. Therefore, the parts will not be hard to obtain like they are with the most recent flagship iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max. Most of those flagship iPhone parts at this time are out of stock and pricing is 6-8 times more expensive. Consequently, COVID-19 puts a damper on parts inventory creating more demand than supply. Secondly, the screen technology in these higher-end flagship phones is OLED instead of LCD.

Newly purchased iPhone displayed on a table in the box. iPhone case color options are laid out beside it.
Apple puts a lot of effort into the magic of opening a brand new iPhone box for the first time. No matter what phone you have it always feels good to upgrade.

OLEDs (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) are inherently more expensive. They are considerably better at producing a better black level and contrast ratio than LCDs (Liquid Crystal Display). You may see blogs or articles out there talking down about the iPhone SE 2020’s screen technology. Just remember that it’s almost a benefit to be using an LCD versus an OLED for a marginally less-quality image. Marginally being the key word as LCD technology is still very good at producing a high-quality image. Additionally, LCD technology is still very common in televisions and other devices. Devices that are producing up to an 8k image resolution, which is the newest and highest resolution on the market.

Conclusion

No doubt that this release of the iPhone SE 2020 is in response to a growing need to stay connected at home. Moreover, in good timing for the individual stimulus release. Apple is likely hoping to capture their portion of the $300 billion released to citizens of the United States in response to COVID-19. With such an attractive price point on a cutting-edge phone there is likely little reason for people not to buy. If someone is not going to buy the phone outright, then there are financing options available through Apple. Financing as low as $16.62 per month with options to trade-in an existing iPhone. Trade-in credit is based on the model and condition of the device you are trading-in.

We are excited to officially launch our Mail-In Repair service! Visit www.genius212.com to start your Mail-In Repair! To see repair prices & store hours, visit https://www.geniuscpr.com
Stay connected & stay safe!

 

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