I’ve said before that the iPhone SE 2020 is a big problem to Android smartphone manufacturers. However, not all is lost since they have time to catch up and they can do that easily if they wanted to.
Samsung is the biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world and I believe they are able to release a smartphone that can effectively compete with the iPhone SE.
Remember, last year, they announced the Galaxy S10e, which was overshadowed by its bigger brothers, the S10 and the S10 Plus. It shared most of the specs with its bigger brothers: top-end processor, 8GB of RAM, same great cameras, and the same great build quality. It only differed from the slightly less pixel-dense 1080p OLED screen, which is fine and the smaller battery due to the smaller frame.
I believe that this is the phone that Samsung can use to compete effectively with the iPhone SE. It has all the major top-end specifications that we see on flagship phones, save for the processor.
All Samsung has to do is change the processor and give it the Snapdragon 865 and re-release it as the S20e or something and slap a $399 price tag on the base model. That’s it!
The reason I believe Samsung can do it is that they have huge economies of scale plus the S10e parts have become cheaper to source over the past 1 year of existence. Slapping the top-end Snapdragon 865 on the S10e will make it a small yet powerful flagship that will compete very well at that price bracket. It will offer the processing power of the 865, great 1080p display, great build quality, wireless charging, USB type C port, fast charging and really good cameras for that price. This pretty much matches and surpasses what the iPhone SE 2020 has to offer while looking more modern than the iPhone.
This dreamt out phone can also be beneficial to Samsung in other ways. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a decrease in smartphone sales and this comes at a time when Samsung released their brand new S20 series. A cheaper flagship phone would boost the sales for Samsung and will boost its brand by having a phone that can effectively compete with the iPhone SE 2020. The S20e as I would name it would be sleeker, have a newer design, and probably beat the iPhone SE in night time photography while still offering a wide-angle camera to boot.
However, I doubt if Samsung would do this. This move would cannibalize sales of their $400 midrange phones like the A51 or their more expensive A90 which has last year’s top-end Snapdragon 855 processor. It might also be an extra obligation to Samsung where people might expect a phone of its kind in the future.
Nonetheless, I’m still curious of what Samsung is cooking at their design studios on how to combat the iPhone SE 2020. You can bet they are working on something, and their fellow Android OEMs are working on an answer too. It may be a difficult year for the industry but it doesn’t mean it won’t stop them from having a worthy competitor to the iPhone SE. Samsung is the biggest smartphone maker in the world and all eyes are on them.
