Advertisement
iPhone
AbacusTech

Where does the iPhone SE fit in a country full of good, cheap phones?

With abundant access to cheap and powerful Android smartphones, Chinese users are divided about Apple’s second-generation iPhone SE

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Like the iPhone 8, the iPhone SE has a 4.7-inch display with big bezels and a Touch ID fingerprint sensor. (Picture: Apple)
Xinmei Shen
This article originally appeared on ABACUS
For a country that has always complained about how pricey iPhones are, Chinese netizens don’t seem very impressed with Apple’s new budget iPhone SE. With a starting price of about US$465 in China, it might have something to do with all the Android options Chinese users have.

Apple’s announcement of the second-generation iPhone SE started in the middle of the night on Wednesday in China. And unsurprisingly, the topic quickly started trending on Chinese social media, taking the top spot on Weibo and Q&A site Zhihu. Reactions were mixed.

Zhihu, where people in China go to ask questions and get answers

“Apple launched a good garbage phone,” reads one Zhihu post that received more than 180 upvotes. “I don’t have the heart to compare it with Android phones in the same price range, because it would be cruel.”
Advertisement
Like the iPhone 8, the iPhone SE has a 4.7-inch display with big bezels and a Touch ID fingerprint sensor. (Picture: Apple)
Like the iPhone 8, the iPhone SE has a 4.7-inch display with big bezels and a Touch ID fingerprint sensor. (Picture: Apple)

At 3,299 yuan (U$466), the new iPhone SE offers some relatively impressive specs for the price. It runs the same A13 chip as all top-end iPhone 11 phones and offers wireless charging. But other things about the phone might look a lot less impressive to Chinese smartphone users who are used to seeing things like multiple cameras, AMOLED displays and fast charging on budget handsets.

Advertisement

The iPhone SE also looks identical to 2017’s iPhone 8. So the design is a bit out-of-date compared with the modern handsets racing to make bezels around smartphone screens nearly nonexistent. And there’s no Face ID, but it brings back Touch ID in the home button. It also only has one camera on the back, compared with three on the iPhone 11 Pro Max.

The Zhihu user who didn’t “have the heart” to compare it to Chinese Android handsets went ahead and did it anyway by bringing up the Vivo iQOO Neo 855. That phone costs 2,298 yuan (US$324) and offers three cameras on the back and supports 33W fast charging. Charging on the iPhone SE tops out at 18W.

Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x