It’s what you probably still think of as the canonical iPhone, even though the new ones have bigger screens, Face ID, and those notches. Apple’s had this design since 2014, and it’s sticking with it. Keeping that design is likely a big reason for the low cost. There’s no need for Apple to retool its factories to build it.
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I get all of that, but I also get that this design looks tired in 2020. There are many comparably priced Android phones that have managed to reduce their bezels. That’s not just an aesthetic consideration, either. Smaller bezels mean you can fit a bigger screen in a smaller phone body.
The bezels are a bother, but the build quality is not. Apple’s long history with this phone design means that it’s rock-solid. There’s no flex, no gross seams, no gaps. The 4.7-inch LCD display is as good as ever, with True Tone to help color-match your surroundings.
For those of you hanging on to the original iPhone SE in the hopes that Apple would make another small phone: I acknowledge you and your sadness. This is simply the way phones are these days. I will say it’s a very common experience for people to resist bigger screens and then love them when they finally give in, but that may not be yours. If it helps (it won’t), there aren’t any good tiny Android phones right now either.
