I hate a heavy phone

October 24, 2019 12:06 PM

So my beloved iPhone SE got run over and I guess I have to go out and look for a new phone. Are there any iPhones that are close to the SE in size & weight, maybe ones that aren't in stores anymore but they're still for legitimate sale (like I can buy them from someplace I've already heard of?) Or should I just go out to Best Buy and just get whichever one has the best hand feel?

I've been doing a bunch of googling (there are SEs available for sale from sketchy outfits & ebay that have like 5 gb memory... sigh) and it all seems like bad news so I thought I'd check and see with you all if I was missing something.

posted by bleep to Technology (12 answers total)

I bought an SE from Gazelle a few years ago and haven't had a lick of trouble with it. They currently have 16 & 128 GB SE's for sale.
posted by sarajane at 12:09 PM on October 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

Same thing with Swappa. We've bought a number of SEs from them and they are fine. Might need a battery replaced sooner than a newish phone but otherwise, not sketchy.
posted by jessamyn at 12:26 PM on October 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

Came here to recommend Swappa as well. Got my kiddo an SE with tons of scratches all over the back, which nobody cares about because the phone has been in a case since we received it.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 12:39 PM on October 24, 2019

Another Swappa recommendation. We recently bought a SE for my kid for very cheap, phone works great, super easy transaction.
posted by anastasiav at 1:14 PM on October 24, 2019

Call around to smaller phone repair places near you. Many of them sell used (unlocked!) phones -- that's how I got my SE this year! It's a great way to recycle electronics, and they might even have some kind of "return it if it turns out it's broken in 2 weeks) thing.
posted by amtho at 1:36 PM on October 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

If you can wait a few months, the SE2 should arrive sometime next year.
posted by sydnius at 3:50 PM on October 24, 2019 [3 favorites]

sydnius - the SE2 is sadly going to be the same form factor as the 6/7/8. I'm disappointed because I have an 8 and it gives me nerve pain if I don't use a popsocket.
posted by radioamy at 4:58 PM on October 24, 2019

Note that no iPhone SE 2 had been announced yet. Any details about hardware, release date, etc. are just rumor or speculation at this point.
posted by mbrubeck at 5:16 PM on October 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

I have tiny hands and loved my SE, but when I was forced to switch, I ended up with the Xs. Albeit larger, it isn’t significantly so, and was an easier adjustment than I had expected. I sure miss that little phone, but I don’t hate the Xs.
posted by msali at 9:20 PM on October 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

I recently went to an 8 from a SE. It is larger, but it doesn't drive me crazy. Well, at first it did, but I got used to it.
posted by kathrynm at 10:42 AM on October 25, 2019

Iphone SE2 is supposed to be coming 1st Q2020.
https://www.cnet.com/news/iphone-se2-is-coming-it-could-be-huge-but-also-kinda-small/

If on the other hand you want a android equivalent. Pixel 3a would be the closest in terms of size and features
posted by radsqd at 12:33 PM on October 25, 2019

Response by poster: Update, I wound up going to the Apple store to look at phones and they actually sold me a new-to-me SE as a "repair". Hurray!
posted by bleep at 8:37 PM on October 30, 2019 [2 favorites]