Apple enters the world of budget smartphones with its 2020 incarnation of the iPhone SE. Priced at start for $399 Apple is providing those slow to upgrade and members of an older none too savvy tech crowd a chance to stay modern with their devices. And there’s a number of ways to save while purchasing the device if you know where to look.

The iPhone SE is a second generation 2020 version of the 2016 original. It is produced by Apple and is available at all major carriers now. It released on April 24, 2020.

If the name “iPhone SE” sounds familiar to you then you’re right, it is. Apple previously released said version of it’s flagship phone brand back in 2016. Like it’s 2020 revamp the original version was also priced at $399 and was also an attempt at making the iPhone a much cheaper option for late upgraders. Though the phone was successful critically and commercially Apple ended production on the device taking a “less is more” approach and trimming the number of incarnations for the iPhone made available at once. Though many in the tech world viewed the discontinuation of the original ‘SE’ as a bad move for future business. Now four years later Apple is back in the budget market and is hopefully sticking around for good for the sake of it’s consumer base.

THE GOOD: As we improve the technology that we use in our day-to-day lives, the pricing also increases. Smartphones and computers are perhaps the biggest offenders of high-priced items. And in the middle of a hurting economy from a pandemic and scalpers lurking at every corner to buy the latest hot item, an overpriced phone just feels unnecessary coming from your favorite phone brand. It’s why many people are looking for iphone parts to fix their existing handset, rather than forking out for one of the newer, more expensive models. In fact, one of the biggest problems from a consumer point with Apple was that nearly everything had a high price. The saying of course being “you get what you pay for” is more often than not true in regards to Apple products, but that doesn’t mean there’s no room for cheaper options that competitors such as Samsung have. At one point we had a budget option for Apple products, but as the years went on so too did those products in number. Thankfully Apple has reconsidered the value of budget smart phones and has re-launched the iPhone SE series for the likely foreseeable future.

While the base price for the iPhone SE is $399 a number of carriers are offering several ways to make that price even cheaper. There’s the standard offerings from the big careers like ATT & Verizon for monthly payouts under contract. However, third party carrier Straight Talk is currently offering the device and it’s three color variants at $200 with a new phone plan. Their lowest phone plan with data starts at $35 and taxes ($38 with auto-refill). These when on sale tend to run out of stock relatively fast, but they’re also restocked almost just as quickly so it’d be wise to check back periodically whenever you’re in the market for a new budget phone.

The iPhone SE 2020 has some impressive features such as a more flexible storage capacity at 64GB, wear & tear resistance (including water), full HD display, 4K & HDR video support at 60fps for playback and recording, some 4K settings for photo mode. If you’re familiar at all with the Playstation 5 which uses haptic feedback for it’s controller, the iPhone SE 2020 also has some similar haptic technology in it’s hardware. So if one of your worries about upgrading your device is whether or not it’ll have the latest tech then the iPhone SE 2020 is just one of the options that has your back at the price and findable cheaper price if you just go out hunting for it.

THE BAD: While the iPhone SE is a great phone itself, the software is a little hard to get used to at times. Updating apps feels way more complicated compared to before at least manually. Previously apps would update automatically or you could simply go to the app store and update the apps manually by finding them in the store. Now it requires some steps that may take some effort from the less tech-savvy. However, such people can utilize online resources to work around complications like this. Additionally, they can also opt to subscribe to Apple products training that can help them with tips, tricks, and apps. By adopting such an approach, iPhone users can revolutionize their daily lives and relationship with technology. That said, from iOS 13 onward you have to go to the app store, tap on your profile and then find the apps below. This doesn’t sound like much for an average techy, but for someone much older looking to upgrade to a modern phone on a budget, it’d be a chore.

As always with iPhones, the iPhone SE is easy to break. This could be said for any phone with a large screen, so its relatively low price makes a smashed screen slightly easier to bear. If your SE does break, it should be relatively simple to fix using a cell phone repair poway service specializing in iPhones. Its simplicity compared to more advanced iPhones makes it easier to fix, which is a positive, but the fact that the screen will break after just one drop places this point in the bad list.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Though not the cheap at retail, if you can go a little higher or know where to search for deal the iPhone SE 2020 is a great phone for the budget market. Modernized with 4K support, strong battery life and security functions it’ll keep phone owners up to speed with the new age of tech. The software will be harder for older phone users to get a handle on due to a few more extra steps for some simpler tasks like app updates. But if taking time to learn how your new device works doesn’t bother you then the iPhone SE 2020 is a strong contender for you. Otaku Dome gives the iPhone SE 2020 a 85 out of 100.