Tech Talk

Here's the handset that has me excited.

Whenever a new iPhone is announced, it's met with a great deal of hype and excitement — that's just a fact. No matter if the particular model is completely revolutionary or just a modest year-over-year improvement, it gets a spotlight that seldom Android phones do.

This exact thing happened when the iPhone SE was unveiled back in mid-April. Everyone clamored to talk about how great and amazing the phone was — heck, we even gave it a great deal of praise and said that it "basically just killed the Pixel 4a and other value flagships." That's a good take and one with a lot of merit, but the more and more I've thought about it, the less I'm sure I personally agree with it.

It's true that the current state of budget Android phones leaves a lot to be desired compared to the iPhone SE. Motorola's Moto G handsets are only promised one major OS update, Samsung's new Galaxy A51 is a laggy mess, and so on. However, as we continue to learn about Google's upcoming Pixel 4a, I think the iPhone SE should be worried.

Without a doubt, the biggest advantage of the iPhone SE is its A13 Bionic processor. It's the same chip found in the iPhone 11 Pro, and this results in two big advantages — incredibly fast performance and at least five years of reliable software updates.

The folks at XDA recently shared benchmark results for the Pixel 4a's processor, giving us an idea of what we can expect from the phone in the performance department. I won't bore you with all of the nitty-gritty, but the tl;dr is that the Pixel 4a is really, really good. Its Snapdragon 730 chipset looks to offer a 35-36% performance increase over the Pixel 3 and 3a (according to AnTuTu), along with a mention that PUBG Mobile runs on the phone at High graphics without any issues.

Early benchmark tests bode incredibly well for the Pixel 4a's performance.

It may not be as technically capable as the iPhone SE's A13 Bionic chip, but looking at these results, the Pixel 4a should be able to open apps quickly, play games, and offer a generally smooth experience. For the vast majority of people, that's all they need. They don't care about clock speeds, benchmark scores, or anything of that nature. Apple can tout the prowess of its A13 Bionic as much as it wants, but what normal consumer actually cares about that?

Assuming both the iPhone SE and Pixel 4a are fast devices that do everything you ask of them without any issues, what's the real advantage of the A13? Software updates? Getting five years of support on the iPhone SE is unmatched in the smartphone market, but Google's promise of at least three years of updates is — in my opinion — good enough. Not to sound like a Google apologist, but if you buy a Pixel 4a and keep it for three years, you're more than getting your money's worth out of it.

Then there's the Pixel 4a's bread and butter — cameras. We can't offer any definitive stance on the phone's camera capabilities until we actually get our hands on it, but early results are impressive.

The above photos were supposedly taken with the phone and shared by the same person that helped XDA with the Pixel 4'a benchmark results. If you ask us, they look really darn good. The Pixel 3a already has the best smartphone camera on the market for under $500, and with the 4a looking to keep that same level of quality while (hopefully) improving on it a bit, Google will continue to be in a league of its own.

Given all of that, what does the iPhone SE have going for it? An LCD display with huge bezels, a Lightning charging port, and no headphone jack? Unless you like the sound of all that, the Pixel 4a comes out on top. It's expected to have a Full HD OLED display with very minimal bezels, USB-C charging, and still retains the endangered headphone jack.

So, tell me again, why are we so excited about the iPhone SE? I know why — it's an iPhone that costs $399. There are plenty of folks out there that don't give a hoot about Android. They know they like iPhones, and with the SE, they get a design they're familiar with, modern specs, and a price tag that's much more appealing than the 11 Pro and even the regular 11.

That's fine and well, but if you're someone who's a bit more platform agnostic and are just concerned with getting the most value for your money, I don't see how the iPhone SE beats anything we've seen for the Pixel 4a. Whether Google matches the SE's $399 price or undercuts it by $50 or more, it's shaping up to be the phone to watch in 2020.