It started, as so many things do, with a Twitter comment. I posted a link to my ZDNet 2020 guide to deciding which iPhone to buy[1].
As almost always happens, some followers had to share their enduring dislike of all things Apple. Other followers then found themselves jumping to Apple's defense. Within a few hours, my Twitter feed was ground zero for a battle between attackers and defenders of the world's first trillion dollar company[2].
But in and around all the freak and fanboy fuss was a quiet, wistful voice. This voice tweeted, "I'd really love an iPhone, but I can't pay even $400. If only there was a $200 iPhone."
The $400 phone my Twitterer mentioned is the iPhone SE, refreshed this last spring[3]. It's essentially an iPhone 8, with a faster processor. For a relatively modern iPhone, shipped new from the factory, it's not a bad deal at all.
But it's still twice as expensive than my Twitter tweeter can take.
What about an older phone? Clearly, iOS will run on a lot of older, and therefore cheaper phones[4]. But is it a good idea?
iOS 13 and 14 support iPhones back to my cherished 6s Plus (the 6s is also supported). I'm still carrying my iPhone 6s Plus, which it works without fail on iOS 13. I haven't upgraded it to iOS 14 only because of reports that iOS 14 is apparently still quite fussy on many phones. I usually wait until most of the bugs are ironed out to apply an update. I usually know it's safe when Adrian Kingsley-Hughes[5] stops writing "this version sucks[6]" articles for a given new release.