Beating the laptop is impressive, but the top of the line part was unnecessary and counter productive. More expensive CPUs often have more cores running at a slower speed. For example, the bottom end 16" MacBook Pro comes with a 2.6 GHz CPU and the top end one comes with a 2.4 GHz CPU. Yes, there is Turbo Boost which can in some cases turn off cores in exchange for higher clock frequencies, but good luck getting much out of that given Apple's thermal design.
I don’t think Apple is considering the A13 unnecessarily on the SE2. The A13 will allow for it to be “fast” for like 5 more years. Corporations/governments/non-us lower income counties are going to love this phone especially BRICs imo. This was the absolute best choice Apple could make for a ‘generic’ phone to eat google & androids lunch.
Maybe there is a currency/tax issue driving the price up? One plus 8 is starting at $699USD while the iPhone SE 2020 has been available for $199 at Walmart although it is though an installment plan to keep people with att/Verizon. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.tomsguide.com/amp/news/hurr...
This also doesn’t include tax, so it ends up being more like $438 for the base model without promotions.
The 16” MacBook Pro definitely has enough headroom to sustain the top turbo speed for at least most of a Geekbench run. Its not a very large benchmark.
