Reading the Apple Tea Leaves

September 1, 2018 3:13 PM

I have concluded my next phone will be an iPhone SE unless I hate it when I go look at it in a shop or if you convince me there's a better choice at <$500. I know there are new iPhones being announced in roughly two weeks, but my cursory googling suggests an SE 2 is not going to happen then. For those who follow Apple, should I be waiting two weeks? Through the end of October? Just go buy the phone already?

I have a Moto G that's a bit over four years old. While I am sure many people will want to suggest the latest Moto G, mine has not aged well at all and I expect to get at least that long out of an iPhone before things start getting silly (and I gather I should get OS/security updates for ~4 years too).

posted by hoyland to Shopping (11 answers total)

You usually see a small drop in the prices of older iPhone models when the new one comes out. So why not wait for the release and see if the SE is a little cheaper?
posted by maudlin at 3:23 PM on September 1, 2018

If it were me, I would definitely wait and see, since the announcement date is so close.
posted by 4ster at 3:28 PM on September 1, 2018 [5 favorites]

Yes, wait. Even if a new SE doesn’t happen, the new phone announcement will drive the price of older SEs down.
posted by ejs at 3:33 PM on September 1, 2018 [5 favorites]

If you want an iPhone the size of the SE, you will probably need to buy the SE. Wait and see what happens to the price after the event. (You can get carrier-locked models on various prepaid plans for under $100 these days, but the unlocked price has been, um, locked for a while.)
posted by holgate at 3:36 PM on September 1, 2018

The new influx of phones at launch drives down prices on the existing phones, new and used. Also one of the new phones might be the one you want. Wait til September 12, it's only 11 days.
posted by w0mbat at 3:50 PM on September 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

The price drop is a real thing. If my phone died today and I intended to replace it with an iPhone, I'd be using a burner/loaner/anything-besides-buying until the Apple event.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 4:22 PM on September 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Of course have a look at what they recommend over at MacRumors.
posted by humboldt32 at 4:31 PM on September 1, 2018

With the other suggestions to wait for the announcement, since it will shake things loose.

I will say, I have the current SE (I've had it since shortly after it came out) and I love it. I have small hands, so it's more usable than larger devices for me, the battery is great even after pretty significant use for a couple of years, and it just does what it's supposed to.
posted by jenettsilver at 5:15 PM on September 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

SE is currently a “don’t buy” at macrumors.com, for similar reasons to those outlined above:
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:21 PM on September 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

I’m just chiming in to echo the SE love. It has the best battery life of any Apple handset, and it actually fits in my pocket.

Def waiting until post-announcement to decide how to proceed, here.
posted by Construction Concern at 4:09 PM on September 2, 2018

Wait, for the reasons given (possible lower price especially).

I have an SE and love it. I came from a much larger Android phone, and if I had the money I would get a larger iPhone, but after spending six months looking at my wife’s SE and wondering how she could put up with something so small, I got one of my own (wanted a closer tie in to the Apple ecosystem than just an iPad, couldn’t afford anything more) and basically said “Huh, this is just fine.”
posted by lhauser at 8:27 PM on September 2, 2018