The new iPhone SE in India. Does it make sense?

iPhone has always been the flagship making company with phones now exceeding the 1 lac mark in India.

India is a big market for Apple. The craze for the Apple ecosystem in India is just wild, especially amongst the youngsters. It can be evidently witnessed when the products which have exhausted their life-cycle in the USA, still sell like hotcakes in India. Despite the high prices, the impact of Apple in India is quite large and appreciable. People can be seen waiting eagerly every October for the new iPhone launches and queuing up outside the Apple stores on the day of launch. With the new product offering from the giant, this trend might just continue.

Apple released the all-new iPhone SE last week, 4 years after their first iPhone SE was launched, back in 2016. The phone was launched via an online press release, amidst the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest addition to the Apple ecosystem is a mid-ranger iPhone which starts at $ 399. It carries the same chipset as the high-end iPhone 11 series, the A13 Bionic from Apple. Once the lockdown is lifted, Apple will launch this phone in India as well.

The older iPhone SE which actually did very well in terms of sales in India.

However, does this phone make sense, especially in India? Let's weigh down the pros and cons of this phone:

PROS:

1.  The latest iPhone SE carries the A13 bionic, which is supposed to be the fastest chipset in any mobile phone today.
2.  The camera has always been an USP for any Apple phone, and going by the claims made by Apple, it might not change with this one as well.
3. Compared to other iPhones, this is a cheaper and more affordable option.
4. The long lost Touch ID is back on this iPhone.
5.  It is a very slim device, which makes it very modern and up to date.
6.  It supports wireless charging, making it the cheapest 2020 phone to support wireless charging.
7.  Being an Apple product, it will get major iOS updates for at least 3 years.

CONS:

1.  It carries the older iPhone design with huge bezels on the forehead and chin. 
2. It has just one camera. Hence, there is no wide-angle or telephoto lens. There is also no dedicated night mode.
3.  It misses out on Face ID.
4.  It looks exactly like the iPhone 8. Hence, there is nothing that can tell people that it is the latest device.
5.  If you convert the price of the phone in Dollars to Rupees, it is somewhere around Rs. 30,000. However, in India, this iPhone will start at Rs. 42,500. This is a huge jump. 
6.  It is just a 4.7-inch display which is quite small by today's standards. 
7.  720p display.

The iPhone 8 and the new iPhone SE look identical except for the positioning of the Apple logo.

Will it sell in India, despite such a price difference?

Well, if previous years are anything to go by, Apple might be able to sell quite a few units of this device. It is the sheer popularity of Apple that gets them those sales numbers year after year.

For example, people in India still buy the now pocket-friendly iPhone 6, 6 plus and 6s which are over 3 years old. So, in the case of the iPhone SE 2020, though the design is dated, it might rock in the sales charts, given the logo at the back of the phone. The design has not really harmed the sales for Apple in the years gone by.

Now let's see why Apple brought back the SE nametag again after 4 whole years.

Here's why:

If you remember, the iPhone 6 was where the design of iPhones changed. They became thinner and sleeker. The iPhone 6 came in, in 2014. However, in 2016, Apple went back to the bigger block type design for the iPhone SE just so that they could use up all their remaining resources which were used to make iPhone 5 and 5s. iPhone 5s and SE looked exactly identical. So, this step back in design was taken after two and a half years. Now, in 2017, Apple released the iPhone 8 and iPhone X. The iPhone X was a change in design and a step forward from the normal design which was going on for 2 years.

Now, two and a half years later, Apple has again brought the SE which looks identical to the previous design language which was used in iPhone 8. So, it is just Apple using all the leftover resources to make a phone and make it more interesting so that it sells.

Overall Feedback:

For the internals it offers and the camera it has, Apple has certainly packed a punch into the new iPhone SE 2020. However, with the last generation design language and the price tag in India, it takes back the deal a few steps. For Apple fans with tight pockets, this could still be a good buy. But overall, we have a much more diversified and affordable Android market which has some excellent phones on offer at a much lesser price tag.

As far as the previous generation SE goes, it got a ton of price cuts in India. So, if Apple follows the trend, it's all about patience for the Indians. It might get a considerable price-cut in the near future, making it a better deal than it is now.

Just a reminder for all those waiting for the SE 2020, there is the iPhone XR which sells for a around the same price, with a much more modern design, almost the same camera and a better battery.