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iPhone SE 2020 (Red, White and Black) - 128GB $799.99, 64GB $724.99 + Free Delivery @ Costco Online (Membership Required)

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Apple's line of the great value new iPhone SE was made available today and Costco seems to have the best prices in town.

These are the options available through Costco:

iPhone SE 128GB Red MXD22X/A $799.99 sold out
iPhone SE 64GB Red MX9U2X/A $724.99 sold out
iPhone SE 64GB White MX9T2X/A $724.99 sold out
iPhone SE 128GB Black MXD02X/A $799.99 sold out
iPhone SE 128GB White MXD12X/A $799.99 sold out
iPhone SE 256GB White MXVU2X/A $964.99 Thanks to user F75 for the pickup.

Edit: The 256gb phones are back in stock. Red, White.

For reference, RRP for 64GB is $749, 128GB is $829 and 256GB is $999.

Industry leading unboxing/reviews linked here.

Here is some quick information about the iPhone SE 2020

A13 Bionic (iPhone 11/Pro)
4.7" screen
Available in Black, White, and RED
TouchID
iPhone 8 body style
Single 12-megapixel f/1.8 aperture Wide camera
7MP Front facing "Facetime HD Camera", Auto HDR, Portrait enabled. No 4K
Following up on the point above: This means no Animoji, or Memoji (interactive)
No 3D Touch, Haptic Touch
IP67 rating
Dual Sim - Physical + eSIm
Qi Wireless Charging
5W Adapter included (capable of fast charging with better adapters and the USB-C->Lightning cable)

Also includes free year of Apple TV+

Related Stores

Costco Wholesale
Costco Wholesale

closed Comments

                        • @TravHall: I love quality and support. If that comes in Samsung or Google or lg, I will stay with Android, but time after time I'm disappointed. Also typing this from my 2012 MacBook air running windows 10 haha. Value comes in time for me, if it lasts longer then it's better value for me. I don't want to spend loads of money on androids each few years anymore. Maybe you are rich and are happy to spend that?

      • +3

        No night mode camera is the biggest blocker…

      • -1

        Actually no when it comes to the camera. According to the reviews daylight photos and videos are really good but lowlight is terrible and there is no night mode.

        I feel we have to look at the phone differently in australia the the US. Sure 399 is a good price in the US but when you look at some of its shortcomings in the 749 bracket in australia it requires a pause and think. In rene richies youtube review of this phone he does point out that he would like to see overseas pricing closer to US pricing.

    • You're right Apple really got their marketing right with this. Although I doubt there's many new iPhone users and probably people for people that have an older iPhone and saw how ridiculous expensive (not to say the SE2 is inexpensive) the new phones are.

      If there are new users they're probably recommended from the would-be tech support iPhone users or maybe parents.

      I was surprised at how fast Airdrop is when I once saw it, although that seems like the best apple ecosystem feature the iPhone has. Mac to iPad sidecar also looks neat.

      But the Apple ecosystem that in the general US population is thinking may be just iMessage. From what I can tell, since SMS is included in your plan, "why not make use of it instead of going through the hassle of a new platform?". iMessage doesn't have that curve but is feature rich of group chat, stickers, images and videos. So it's a chat app without feeling like you're entering a platform.

  • +1

    Expensive iPhone 8

  • -1

    400 USD to AUD is $627.

    627 + 10% (GST, not included in US pricing) is $689.

    Yeah, we're getting ripped off about $60 (more if the AUD starts gaining). But it's pretty annoying to see people talking as if GST isn't a thing.

    • -4

      Get ready for 15% GST soon. The Wuhan premium ;-)

      • Slightly off topic but I think if they ever revise the GST, they should look into the European style VAT where you have two tiers of low and high, for instance at 5-10% and at ~20% respectively. For essential items, public transport, essential services etc. They get taxed at the reduced rate and for everything else is the higher rate. Of course there are still exemptions and zero-rated goods and services. Sure we end up paying more for a phone but for essential items like a bus ride, books, hotels, takeaways etc. you end up paying less. We don’t buy phones everyday but many of us use public transport on a regular basis. Whichever politician raising this idea would probably have guts to get everyone including all states and territories on board… anyway just some food for thought.

      • Kids on casual wages of $100 per week are now getting $750 courtesy of the government. Add the rest of the subsidies as well. The user will pay folks. Sorry to get your negs because you feel sad about it.

  • +1

    iphone se 128gb for $800 or the S20 128GB for $944. which is better value? both are pretty pricey

    • Depends how much you value software updates.

      Sammy will abandon the S20 pretty soon, but you could foreseeably have the SE for 5 years with the latest OSes.

      If you want to buy a new phone every year 18 months, Android is probably the way forward. If you hang on to your phones, this is a pretty smashing deal for a pretty decent phone.

      • +1

        thanks i ended up going in to the shops to hold them and went with the galaxy.

  • +4

    Apple really is pulling Nvidia nowdays

    iPhone XR got succeeded by iPhone 11 to fool everyone thinking it's iPhone X successor

    Goes on to make iPhone 8 successor in to SE to hide the fact that they were overcharging 7 and 8

    iPhone X became Pro to charge extra.

    unbelievable

  • -1

    Ow price match and 5% beat

    • +1

      dont they take in the price of membership?

  • If you want to buy the Apple Watch then you will need a phone that can support the latest IOS. This is, probably, a good phone to get if you want to do that. It will be IOS supported for longer than the other cheapieish options. I bought a cheapie X, earlier this year, and I do like the display, but it usually just acts as a hot spot, for the watch and IPad, and takes pictures. I use my watch a lot more because it is more convenient than pulling the phone out. I can even do the “Dick Tracey” watch, which I’ve been hanging out for since my childhood.

  • +1

    Couldn't go back to home button.

    • +1

      I don’t think it’s aimed at anyone who has phone with Face ID (having said that, some users would be happy to ditch Face ID for this).

      • Bought a 8+ last year because I didn't want Face ID :)

    • I couldn't go back to a phone with that much bezel… So much wasted screen real estate…

  • +2

    Shame…only 4.7inch
    So small for my hands =/

  • +1

    that bezel is a flashback to iphone 3.. in todays day and age when even 300$ phones give you a notch screen, we have bear with those ugly bezels.

  • +1

    can we price beat with officeworks?

    • +1

      You can try, but office works have declined to price match Costco before as it is a member only store.

  • This deal or a near new XS on FB marketplace for a similar outright price?

  • Just FYI. Vodafone is doing this up to 36 months interest free (As long as you stay month to month with Voda) for the same price.

    I got the phone yesterday coming from a Note 10+.

    Things to note

    1) Feels AMAZING because its small and light.
    2) Fast, Snappy and great camera
    3) Unable to tell any difference with any screen quality
    4) Negative - Not sure if all are like this but sometimes when i touch the screen it randomly opens apps like there is some issue with touch or when dragging apps its hard to hold the app under the touch and it releases alot. Unsure if Hardware, Software or no issue.

    • 4) Shouldn't happen. Normally, iOS devices have less touch screen related errors than Android.
      3) You need to watch HDR10+ videos to see the difference easily. OLED screen might be better in a lot of areas, it does suffer from colour shift when viewing off angle. The IPS screen on the SE isn't that bad.

      Video is an area where recent iOS devices tend to do better. There is no 10 minute restriction on iOS devices for 4K@60fps, unlike most Android devices with Snapdragon 855 or Exynos equivalent.

    • 1) 'AMAZING'? Lol. It feels identical to the iPhone 8, and virtually identical to the 6/6s/7.

      2) It's the same camera as the iPhone 8 which was released over two and a half years ago.

      3) Unable to tell the diffence in screen quality between this and the Note 10+? LMAO! Come on. Now I know you're pulling our leg.

  • 4.7” is a bit small, 5” is just right

    Still it looks to be quite good, will wait for more reviews before diving in.

  • i can finally upgrade from my old iPhone SE.

    • -4

      You could of got a 8, this is not a SE size phone, don't get it?

      • Not purely a size issue more something which offers reasonable value (but in a smaller footprint) that is Apple.

  • Were Se owners just waiting for a new phone with SE written on it? lol.

  • Apple would do well to have an old model for new model trade in deal for the iPhone SE.

  • It might be possible to get a better deal via Vodafone; sign up for the SE plan on month-to-month & immediately cancel, similar to this deal. Min cost 64gb $713/128gb $793, only question is if first month is charged pro-rata…

    • All that hassle to save $7?

      • Yep

      • Oh and also saving the costco membership if you don't already have one

        • +1

          Um, if you are after 128GB model, you don't need to go through that much trouble. Just buy $800 worth of JB vouchers (at 5% off). Total comes to $789. You could technically buy up to $829 worth of vouchers if you want to save a bit more. Also, if you have some Microsoft rewards points saved, you could exchange them for some JB vouchers too. Pity Virgin Velocity rewards is currently being suspended. Still have some points that I could exchange for a JB voucher…. sigh…

    • The JB deal is pretty sweet.

      Buy $5 sim from Aldi and activate.
      Port to Telstra using the Aldi number and sign up for plan.
      Pay $200 for the phone outright.
      Cancel Telstra plan and pay $390 early termination fee.
      iPhone SE 164GB for $595

      And then you can also trade up from 64GB to 128GB model in-store for $80 difference.
      iPhone SE 128GB for $675.

      • +1

        Um, I read somewhere that another OZBer indicated JB won't offer the same deal for 128GB model. They will only do the standard $400 off, rather than the $550 off for the 64GB. So if 64GB is enough, obviously JB deal with early termination would be better (and you could get discount voucher to save 5% on the $200).

  • +1

    I bought one of these as my first iPhone after many years of using Android. I really wanted to like it (obviously - hence why I bought it), but I couldn't.

    The hardware is fine. It's well made and I like certain things about it like the vibration which works better than any Android phone I've used.

    I just couldn't adjust to iOS. Many things about it really frustrated me, like the notification system which doesn't show them in the status bar but forces you to swipe down from the top of the screen just to find out if you have a notification. I had an unread message which I didn't even realise was there until about 30 minutes later.

    You can't do proper adblocking either. Even Firefox can't do it because the add-ons can't be installed on iOS. There are browsers like Firefox Focus or Brave which can do adblocking to some degree, but they have other limitations which make them less than ideal.

    They've deliberately prevented you from adding a GPS on/off toggle to the Control Centre too. You have to go into the settings app and dig through the menus to change it. I keep location disabled and only turn it on momentarily when I specifically need it, so this is pretty inconvenient.

    Those aren't the only things that annoyed me. There are several more.

    If you like iOS then I'm sure you'll be happy with this phone. But just be aware that iOS is quite limited if you're new to it like me.

    • +1
      1. Notification icon(s) on status bar - yeah, Apple won't let Apps touch the status bar. So if you missed them on the lock screen, then it is annoying. You could look at the red circle with number on the apps, but if your apps aren't on the first page, you could still miss notifications. If that's important, the Apple official solution needs $$$: Apple Watch.

      2. GPS on/off. Yes, it is annoying (compared to Android). However, iOS doesn't seem to drain that much battery if you setup your apps properly with GPS on. It used to be a setting I turn on and off on Android a lot in the past (to save battery), but I've stopped doing that, even on Android. Apps nowadays give you an option to only use GPS when you run it. You could ask Siri to turn it off for you, but that's still annoying.

      3. Ad block, maybe try: https://www.imore.com/how-block-ads-your-iphone-or-ipad.

      Jailbreak is not really an option nowadays, otherwise you could make your i-device more like an Android device.

  • Can someone tell me what is the attraction in having a tiny 4.7 inch screen? It would give me eye strain.

    • It's mainly the A13 processor (you know 4K/60fps video recording isn't going to have that 10 minutes max limit like on Snapdragon 855. I don't know whether 865 lifted the limit - don't have a 865 phone).

      Basically, it's time for an upgrade for previous iPhone SE users. After 4 years worth of iOS upgrades, it is coming to an end later this year. It's unlikely Apple will let the old SE have iOS 14. However, Apple don't want them to leave the Apple ecosystem.

      If Apple could entice some new users, then that would be a bonus. Hardcore Apple iPhone XS, 11/Pro users won't bother with the new SE. It's quite likely iPhone 12 will have 120Hz screen (probably why Samsung rushed 120Hz on their S20 - despite just 1080p). That's actually one advantage Apple has, with a resolution just above 1080p, Apple won't need to push for 1440p 120Hz).

    • +1

      Did you also have eyestrain while using a 2014 phone? Sub 5 inches was the norm back then.

      • +1

        No I had a Samsung Galaxy S5 back then.

  • I imported the original Samsung Galaxy Note. My friend and I were laughing hysterically while comparing the size to regular sized phones at a shop.

    The Samsung and the Nextbit Robin were the only phones that strangers would ask me about.

  • -1

    Looks like I was correct, battery life is quite bad if you do any process heavy tasks.

    Battery life discussion at 2 minutes 35 seconds

    https://youtu.be/Maz7qkLzwYw

  • A camera that takes bad low-light photos is pointless. I noticed in YouTube reviews they often only show it from behind because the front is so ugly.

  • +1

    i went in to the store to buy this but it looks so average. the screen is tiny, feels like a phone from 5 years ago. spent a little more and got something else

    • If you don’t mind me asking, what phone did you have before?. Reviews say if updating from iPhone 6-7, 1st Gen SE, then screen size shouldn’t be an issue. It’s only an issue coming back to the small screen + bezel after using a phone with a screen that goes to the edges.

      It’s good to know theres stock in store despite it being out of stock for most of the models online.

      • i had a galaxy s6 which felt ancient. but the iphone felt even older. mum got the s6 and is happy :D

    • What did you end up buying?

      Is the price in the store the same or cheaper?

      Do you know if this SKU is the same as those sold in JBHifi and others, i.e. Aussie model?

      Thanks. I'm thinking of going to the store too

      • i ended up getting an s20, my father works for coles so got it for $940. it was about $140 more than the iphone but seems worth the extra cost

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