iPhone SE User's Thread

[MacinJosh]

 

As was rumored and expected today, Apple released the iPhone SE. Included were upgraded specs to bring the device more in line with it's larger counterparts. It even includes the nice 12MP rear camera with support for live photos.

 

LTE specs include support for everything the 6S and 6S Plus except for Carrier Aggregation. And as if to slap users in the face who want open device compatibility, the Sprint model does not include support for Verizon Band 13 LTE. And the non Sprint model does not include support for TD-LTE. Not a surprise by any means. But now Apple's entire iPhone line for Sprint is CCA/RRPP compatible, which is definitely a plus for consumers when it releases on the 31st of this month.

 

As of now we know that Sprint will carry the SE, the full price starts at $399 and $0 on a 2-yr contract, but we do not know what the Installment Billing price will be and if Sprint will decide to sell the SE on iPhone Forever.

 

Edit: Sprint is not doing iPhone Forever with iPhone SE, just Installment billing starting at $16.67/mo for the 16GB model.

[RedSpark]

Pricing/Specs for the iPhone SE just went live on Apple.com: http://www.apple.com/iphone-se/

 

Sprint Pricing:

 

16 GB: $399 Retail Price. Free on Two Year Contract

64 GB: $499 Retail Price. $49 on Two Year Contract

 

I imagine Lease/Easy Pay will be available.

 

Order starting March 24. Shipping on March 31.

 

http://www.apple.com/iphone-se/specs/

 

Model A1662

LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 29)

CDMA EV‑DO Rev. A  (800, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz)

UMTS/HSPA+/DC‑HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz)

GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)

 

Model A1723

LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28)

TD‑LTE (Bands 38, 39, 40, 41)

TD‑SCDMA 1900 (F), 2000 (A)

CDMA EV‑DO Rev. A (800, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz)

UMTS/HSPA+/DC‑HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz)

GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)

 

All models

802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi‑Fi

Bluetooth 4.2 wireless technology

NFC

 

iPhone SE

Up to 19 LTE bands

Up to 150 Mbps over LTE (which means no LTE Advanced/LTE Plus support)

Up to 433 Mbps over Wi-Fi (which means no MIMO support)

 

iPhone 6s

LTE Advanced

Up to 23 LTE bands supported

Up to 300 Mbps over LTE Advanced

Up to 866 Mbps over Wi‑Fi

 

Still a substantial improvement over the iPhone 5s, which only supported Band 25/26 on Sprint and lacked support for Band 12.

[AppleFanBoy]

No LTE Plus support is kind of a bummer.

 

But then again the consumers of this device most likely will not know/care what LTE Plus or CA are.

[RedSpark]

So much for Carrier Interoperability.... See the "Learn more about the SIM-free iPhone' link which is located the iPhone SE Store Page:

 

The SIM-free iPhone comes without a wireless contract commitment or carrier financing. It doesn’t come with a nano-SIM card for iPhone SE. And because it’s unlocked, it isn’t tied to one carrier, so you can get a nano-SIM from any supported carrier, such as AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon in the United States. The SIM-free iPhone SE is not compatible with Sprint’s network. To use iPhone SE with Sprint, you need to select Sprint as your carrier when you purchase your iPhone.

[RedSpark]

No LTE Plus support is kind of a bummer.

 

But then again the consumers of this device most likely will not know/care what LTE Plus or CA are.

 

They shouldn't have to care what it is. The performance should just be better.

 

Don't get me wrong. This is a step up from the iPhone 5s which didn't even have support for Band 41.

 

However, Apple does it again here by leaving off support for LTE Advanced...

[MacinJosh]

No LTE Plus support is kind of a bummer.

 

But then again the consumers of this device most likely will not know/care what LTE Plus or CA are.

 

Confirmed: No Carrier Aggregation. No one should be surprised that CA is not included on the SE. Look at the price of the phone. From a cost benefit standpoint, dropping CA is how they made the phone even more affordable than before.

[bipbapbam]

Is it known whether or not it has 2GB of ram?

 

I’m fine with it not having 2xCA. Not surprising, but disappointing. I’ll be selling my 6+ and getting this as I’m sick of the size (I don’t watch enough videos on my phone to justify the size, plus I’d rather just buy a bigger laptop/tablet for videos on the go) and the 5s design is gorgeous. So some slightly upgraded specs to hold me over until my next upgrade in November. Fingers crossed for 3xCA in the iPhone 7. If not maybe I’ll see what windows and android are up to. If Microsoft can eventually get continuum right, I may not be able to resist.

 

Edit: Wait, why no band 13 on the Sprint model? I have a feeling that’s going to be a pretty big hit on resale value.

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MacinJosh]

Is it known whether or not it has 2GB of ram?

 

I’m fine with it not having 2xCA. Not surprising, but disappointing. I’ll be selling my 6+ and getting this as I’m sick of the size (I don’t watch enough videos on my phone to justify the size, plus I’d rather just buy a bigger laptop/tablet for videos on the go) and the 5s design is gorgeous. So some slightly upgraded specs to hold me over until my next upgrade in November. Fingers crossed for 3xCA in the iPhone 7. If not maybe I’ll see what windows and android are up to. If Microsoft can eventually get continuum right, I may not be able to resist.

 

Edit: Wait, why no band 13 on the Sprint model? I have a feeling that’s going to be a pretty big hit on resale value.

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

RAM is unknown for now. But once unlocked, the Sprint model will be compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile, which will bring a higher resale value than a Verizon compatible version.

[Arysyn]

Confirmed: No Carrier Aggregation. No one should be surprised that CA is not included on the SE. Look at the price of the phone. From a cost benefit standpoint, dropping CA is how they made the phone even more affordable than before.

 

​Hey Josh,

 

​While I'm not an Apple nor an Android "fan", I do like certain aspects of both over the other and I've considered devices of both OSes. What I don't like however, is how Apple and most manufacturers downgrade the features on smaller display devices. The only manufacturer that doesn't do this for the most part (that I'm aware of), is Sony. I'll admit I'm not fond of smaller displays, though I think they ought to be given equal treatment to larger display devices.

 

​I watched the Apple event online today, and it seemed to me they were trying to focus on making this more alike in features to the larger models, I'm very surprised to hear Apple isn't including carrier aggregation, nor is the display resolution up to the level of the 6s. Of course that'll be good for people on T-Mobile who use BingeOn, as it'll be more adaptable to the 480p video, but it seems like a loss for Sprint which relies pretty heavily now on carrier aggregation.

 

​What worries me, is people who get this device on Sprint and then question why the speeds are slower than what they hear of Sprint's great improvements from people they know, the media, etc., then they blame Sprint for it, rather than blaming Apple for the speeds. Not to say its all bad, regular band 41 is quite good, as is PCS in areas Sprint has upgraded to 10x10 or more, but it still isn't the same and I'd hate for Sprint to be blamed for it when they are developing a very powerful  ca-rich network.

[gusherb]

RAM is unknown for now. But once unlocked, the Sprint model will be compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile, which will bring a higher resale value than a Verizon compatible version.

The only band that's missing from the A1723 that AT&T is using is B29.

 

 

And does anyone know if it's just no 2xB41 CA or no CA at all?

[burnout8488]

Is it possible these omissions are due to the chassis size? The logic board can only be so big inside the phone - would a physically larger phone have allowed Apple to go full-bore on the LTE bands/technologies with this phone? 

[MarshieZ]

Is it possible these omissions are due to the chassis size? The logic board can only be so big inside the phone - would a physically larger phone have allowed Apple to go full-bore on the LTE bands/technologies with this phone? 

 

That's what I was thinking... it is after all only a 4 inch display. They're packing in a whole lotta tech into a very small size, they might not have enough room to do everything.

[sbolen]

My wife doesn't need 2xCA... Just a form factor that fits her hand. This will be a tremendous upgrade from her 5S.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RedSpark]

​​What worries me, is people who get this device on Sprint and then question why the speeds are slower than what they hear of Sprint's great improvements from people they know, the media, etc., then they blame Sprint for it, rather than blaming Apple for the speeds. Not to say its all bad, regular band 41 is quite good, as is PCS in areas Sprint has upgraded to 10x10 or more, but it still isn't the same and I'd hate for Sprint to be blamed for it when they are developing a very powerful  ca-rich network.

 

I agree with you completely on this.

[RedSpark]

Is it known whether or not it has 2GB of ram?

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

It does: https://twitter.com/panzer/status/712327424659161089

 

More here.

[jorwex]

 

The SIM-free iPhone SE is not compatible with Sprint’s network. To use iPhone SE with Sprint, you need to select Sprint as your carrier when you purchase your iPhone.

 

Could this just mean that the non-Sprint A1662 model lacks support for some Sprint frequencies?

I want to buy an unlocked phone direct from Apple tomorrow that I can use on Sprint in the near term and bring to another carrier in the future.

I'd rather not get the Sprint A1723 model if I'm going to take it elsewhere later, even if it means that LTE will be hindered while still on Sprint.

Does anyone know if Sprint will actually activate one of the non-Sprint A1662 models using an existing Sprint iPhone nano SIM?

Thanks

[caspar347]

Hmm. As long as it supports B41 this is pretty cool. I forgot how long it took to get Apple on-board with B41. Sheesh. I wonder how many 25/26-only 5s/5c are active on Sprint... 

 

​​What worries me, is people who get this device on Sprint and then question why the speeds are slower than what they hear of Sprint's great improvements from people they know, the media, etc., then they blame Sprint for it, rather than blaming Apple for the speeds. Not to say its all bad, regular band 41 is quite good, as is PCS in areas Sprint has upgraded to 10x10 or more, but it still isn't the same and I'd hate for Sprint to be blamed for it when they are developing a very powerful  ca-rich network.

Normally this is exactly what I'd be worried about, but since we're on the verge of the third carrier going live speeds should still be fine on single B41 carriers. Even so, shame on Apple. Maybe Sprint can make a point to mark it as "not LTE-Plus capable."

[Arysyn]

Hmm. As long as it supports B41 this is pretty cool. I forgot how long it took to get Apple on-board with B41. Sheesh. I wonder how many 25/26-only 5s/5c are active on Sprint... 

 

Normally this is exactly what I'd be worried about, but since we're on the verge of the third carrier going live speeds should still be fine on single B41 carriers. Even so, shame on Apple. Maybe Sprint can make a point to mark it as "not LTE-Plus capable."

 

I hope Sprint will mark it as that. Also, along with some information about the difference between LTE+ and not, so customers can understand the difference they'll experience on the device vs others, without making it appear the non-LTE+ is bad, just not as capable.

 

While I have considered Apple and still am thinking about possibly getting the IPhone 7 later in the year, I wouldn't consider getting this SE device at all. It really doesn't seem worth the price to me, especially if on Sprint. The extra price difference for the 6s seems plenty worth it to me, though my preference is for the Plus version, which if I do get the IPhone 7, it definitely will be the Plus version.

[Schikka]

I really want to get this phone. I have a 6s and a 6 before this and after almost 2 years am still not used to the size. However why oh why can't Apple who loves margins allow for 128g storage!? It's the one thing holding me back ……

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[sbolen]

I've never been able to successfully order an iPhone from Sprint on launch day.

 

You'd think they would have this figured out by now. 

 

[RedSpark]

I hope Sprint will mark it as that. Also, along with some information about the difference between LTE+ and not, so customers can understand the difference they'll experience on the device vs others, without making it appear the non-LTE+ is bad, just not as capable.

 

Looks like RCR Wireless already got this wrong for the iPhone SE...

 

Article Link: http://www.rcrwireless.com/20160323/carriers/sprint-t-mobile-lte-ambitions-bolstered-apple-iphone-se-tag2

 

The Apple iPhone 6s models provide support for dual-carrier aggregation, which is expected to be echoed in the iPhone SE.

 

Someone ought to clue Dan in on this...

[anthony.spina97]

Looks like RCR Wireless already got this wrong for the iPhone SE...

 

Article Link: http://www.rcrwireless.com/20160323/carriers/sprint-t-mobile-lte-ambitions-bolstered-apple-iphone-se-tag2

 

 

Someone ought to clue Dan in on this...

He is also referring to all of the LTE Bands as "Band Class xx"

 

-Anthony

[Arysyn]

Looks like RCR Wireless already got this wrong for the iPhone SE...

 

Article Link: http://www.rcrwireless.com/20160323/carriers/sprint-t-mobile-lte-ambitions-bolstered-apple-iphone-se-tag2

 

 

Someone ought to clue Dan in on this...

 

He needs to get retracting that, and very soon!

 

It makes me wonder if he even watched the Apple event. I did, and I remember it mentioning "up to 150 mbps". You'd think that would have given him a clue for his article too.

[RedSpark]

He needs to get retracting that, and very soon!

 

It makes me wonder if he even watched the Apple event. I did, and I remember it mentioning "up to 150 mbps". You'd think that would have given him a clue for his article too.

 

You could drop him a line... 

[td4guy]

Got my iPhone SE. I like the small size a lot better than my old iPhone 6. But the reception doesn't seem to be as good. I live in an area with marginal signal, but lately my iPhone 6 would hop onto LTE maybe 30% of the time. This iPhone SE seems much more likely to stay on 3G.