Want an iPhone SE on launch day? In-store pickup is your friend!

Iphone Se 2020 Hero (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

Ordering an iPhone SE online for home delivery could see a wait into the last few days of March.
iPhone SE in-store collections are still available for launch day.

Apple's new iPhone SE goes on sale this Friday, March 18, and if you want one on launch day your best bet is to head into a local Apple Store.

Online pre-orders for Apple's new budget iPhone went live last week and anyone ordering online today might have to wait a few days beyond launch day before their new handset arrives. Checking the Apple Store in the United States shows delivery estimates stretching towards the end of the month, depending on delivery location. But there's one constant — ordering for in-store collection seems to be a winner, no matter where you happen to be.

Iphone Se 2022 Deliveries (Image credit: iMore)

Ordering online for in-store pickup is quick and easy and it now looks like the best way to get an iPhone SE on launch day if you don't already have a pre-order in place. Things are even better internationally, with the UK, Australia, and some European countries all still able to get you an iPhone SE on launch day across most, if not all, configurations.

The new iPhone SE comes with an A15 Bionic chip as well as support for 5G, but it's still not expected to be a huge seller beyond its core audience — people who want an inexpensive iPhone or would prefer not to deal with re-learning how iPhone 13 gestures work. There's a lot to be said for a physical Home button, even in 2022. For that reason alone, this will be the best iPhone for a ton of people.

Affordable powerhouse

iPhone SE 3 (2022)

No other smartphone on the market will give you so much power for such an excellent price point. The iPhone SE 3 is super fast and packs 5G support for the first time.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.