Apple quietly hikes iPhone SE price in UK after iPhone 14 reveal

Apple March Event 2022
(Image credit: Apple)

If you’re looking to buy an iPhone SE in the UK you might want to act fast, as Apple has just quietly increased the price of its budget smartphone.

When the iPhone SE (2022) launched in the UK you could pick it up for £419, and using the WayBackMachine – an online archive that stores snapshots of webpages – we can see that this was the case as recently as August 26

But as we spotted while browsing the official Apple store page today you’ll see the iPhone SE (2022) is now selling for £449 – a whole £30 more.

Thankfully this change doesn’t seem to have impacted the iPhone SE in the US or Australia yet – it’s still selling for its original $419 / AU$719 price in those regions – but if you’ve been on the fence about picking up the cheaper iPhone, you might want to act sooner rather than later.

As for those of you in the UK, you still have some time to pick up the iPhone SE at its original price. At the time of writing, third-party vendors like John Lewis and Currys are selling the phone for £419, but there’s no telling when this will change too.

Before you rush to buy an iPhone though, you might want to check out our guide so you can grab the best iPhone for your needs.

The iPhone 14 lineup on a table in situ in an undisclosed Apple Store

The iPhone 14 was meant to drop older iPhone prices, not raise them (Image credit: Apple)

Considering the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro were just announced, many of us would have expected Apple’s older iPhone prices to drop rather than go up. For the iPhone 13 that's the case; dropping to $699 / £749 / AU$1,229.

That said, while iPhone 14 pre-orders are the same price as iPhone 13 pre-orders were in the US, they are also more expensive in the UK – selling for £849 instead of £779.

To find out why the prices of iPhones are going up in the UK we’ve reached out to Apple for more information. If we hear anything back we’ll be sure to update this piece.

If you're instead thinking of picking up an iPhone 14, check out the best iPhone 14 deals we've found right now.

Hamish Hector
Senior Staff Writer, News

Hamish is a Senior Staff Writer for TechRadar and you’ll see his name appearing on articles across nearly every topic on the site from smart home deals to speaker reviews to graphics card news and everything in between. He uses his broad range of knowledge to help explain the latest gadgets and if they’re a must-buy or a fad fueled by hype. Though his specialty is writing about everything going on in the world of virtual reality and augmented reality.