The iPhone 5C, my guess, was Apple's experiment with having a cheaper end phone and seeing how the market would react to that. With the original SE, they probably had a ton of left over iPhone 5 shells so they chose that because it just made sense to use them. My guess is this is the same reason why the new SE has the shell from the 7/8. This also helps Apple cut down on price since they don't have to create new molds or re-engineer the interior much, which is probably how Apple is convincing themselves that they can still make their expected margins with a $399 price tag.

Apple is shifting to a service revenue model with things like Apple TV+. I suspect they're realizing that to reproduce their iTunes monopoly they're going to need iPhones to be as ubiquitous as iPods.

> It's a great analog to the Pixel "a" models

I think it's a direct response to that pressure.

If GOOG designs Pixels w/Exynos chips (per recent rumors), they'll likely be cheaper than the Snapdragon ones. That will put even more downward pressure on these prices.

The first SE was $399 as well, and that was years ago.