Teardown Video Compares New iPhone SE to iPhone 8

In other words, the so-called SE is really a cost reduced iPhone 8. Why did you have to pollute the SE name, Apple? Why?

The original SE was a cost reduced 5s. What’s your point?

Apple's big issue here is the naming scheme doesn't allow for out of order products, which is why they've bastardized the SE monicker. Nobody for a moment believes this is an iPhone SE given its form factor is too big. It's disingenuous of Apple to try to connive people who are actually intelligent enough to know the difference. This simply ain't an SE and nobody should call it that.


Apple is insulting you by trying this SE stunt. It's like a flat can of soda.

I don’t feel insulted in the least. I think you overestimate the emotional attachment people have toward the names of cellular devices.

Would be interesting to see if 3D Touch can work if an iPhone 8 screen is transplanted on the SE.

The most interesting bit for me is that the rear camera is different. Not that it matters (as the photos would be better because of the newer chip anyway) but I'm glad that people can now stop saying it's the same camera as the iPhone 8

If they are reusing leftover stock/parts, that’s how they were able to afford the $400 price point for this phone.

What Apple did was really smart. They have tons of iPhone 8 parts and are probably getting even more through recycling.

FWIW, I think it’s not that they have leftover stock or parts (warehouses full of parts for more than a few days worth of production is inefficient and costly), but rather that they have all the tooling - and their supply chain has all the tooling - to produce those exact parts at high volume and to extremely precise tolerances. And all that tooling is long since paid for. And they’ve got the whole assembly and QA process thoroughly debugged. So they just have to keep feeding in raw materials at one end to get perfect, low cost chassis out the other end.

They replaced the main chip on the circuit board with the newest one, and the camera with the one from the XR, oh, and maybe asked for the screen to be made without the 3D Touch layer, but the rest of it is the well tested iPhone 8.

If the price could be explained by “leftover parts” - the math for that only works if they’ve got several years worth of these leftover parts sitting around - if the price was low because they had, say, a month’s worth of leftover parts, then what happens after a month, does the iPhone SE price go up? No, Tim Cook made his name by being able to control the supply chain the way a conductor controls an orchestra - he never would have let them end up with years worth of extra parts in the first place.

For the audience this phone target, they couldn't care less. The iPhone SE is just another avenue for Apple to print money and get those remaining stubborn iPhone 5S, 6, and 6s users to finally upgrade.

So you’re telling us all something that is blatantly obvious? Of course Apple is out to make money, why do you think they revived this phone to begin with? (Both rhetorical questions.) Especially given how popular the 4.7 inch form factor is.

I think the misconception is, it’s not just about upgrading the 5s/6 owners, this is a global phone. It’s a phone that will survive in many markets, because of its low price point, which has Apple competing in a global segment, not just the North American market.