Apple's iPhone SE pre

For the first time ever, you can pre-order a brand new iPhone sporting Apple's most powerful A13 Bionic mobile chip for $399.

As announced a few days ago, the pre-orders went live at 5 a.m. PT.

Until today, to get the A13 Bionic, you had to dish out at least $699 for an iPhone 11, which was the cheapest phone to feature the chip. But the iPhone SE changes the game radically.

For a detailed overview of what kind of value the iPhone SE presents and who should buy it, check out our analysis here. But the short version of it is that the iPhone SE has the same basic specs as the iPhone 11 — A13 Bionic chip and 64/128/256GB of storage — and every variant costs four hundred bucks less.

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With its powerful processor and 64GB of base storage, the iPhone SE should be a good gaming phone. Credit: Apple

Yes, the display, battery life, and camera on the iPhone SE aren't as impressive as those in Apple's pricier models, but if you can live with that, this (on paper) is crazy good value for an Apple product.

SEE ALSO: Apple finally made my dream phone: 2020's iPhone SE

The iPhone SE comes at a critical time for Apple, with purchase power of its customers greatly reduced and the company's stores outside of China all closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With its combination of low price tag and fairly powerful innards, it might just be what Apple needs to weather the crisis.

You can pre-order the iPhone SE on Apple's website. The 64GB variant costs $399; for 128GB you'll have to pay $449, while the version with 256GB costs $549.

The price goes down even further -- down to $229/$279/$379, depending on storage -- if you're willing to trade an eligible, old iPhone for the new iPhone SE. Check out the details here.