2020 Toyota 86 Apple Carplay Headunit
 

I believe this headunit has been produced for the 2020 GT models only. Would anyone know if the 2020 86 Apple Carplay Headunit would fit in a 2019 86 TRD SE?

it's a shitty unit and you'll degrade your sound quality by swapping to it since it requires the amp to be bypassed but does not have enough juice to properly drive the oem door speakers so your sound will lack bass. Probably a better idea to look at aftermarket since you can probably get better units for cheaper than oem

I see. That's an interesting point you made, but oddly enough when I swapped in my Pioneer DMH 1500-NEX headunit into my 86.. I could tell the quality of sound lacks compared to the OEM headunit this car came with even after EQ adjustments. So I switched back to OEM without carplay and now trying to brainstorm my options.

I think that will all depend on your pioneer headunit's amperage compared to your oem + the oem amp. I'm not sure if the pioneer headunit you put in utilizes the oem amp at all or if it bypasses it like the 2020 android auto/carplay compatible units. The crutchfield website lists the 1500-nex has 14W internal amp so if that's less thank the oem + amp, then it's possible it's not powerful enough to drive the oem speakers.

I think the only way to truly "upgrade" the sound would be to manually wire an aftermarket amp that hooks up to you aftermarket headunit that will guarantee enough amplier output to sufficiently drive the oem speakers. Would be much more work since you'd have to custom run wires to your trunk unless you can somehow modify the oem harness that runs to the oem amp in the trunk to work with the new amp.

This would be zero issue if I could afford the OEM+ speaker/subwoofer combo. But I can't afford a sound system that's almost 2k. Do you recommend any budget alternatives? Perhaps door-speaker upgrade along with the Pioneer 1500-NEX?

i don't think i'd spend money on oem+ solution even if i had the money. has nice car specific subwoofer box to make it look more seamless in trunk but i doubt a bulk of their cost is spent on high quality speakers. Personally, i'd rather spend the oem+ money on higher end amps/speakers rather than custom fitted boxes. I haven't looked into aftermarket solutions myself but am eventually going to consider seeing if I can upgrade the headunit to a better one with a more powerful internal amp that can drive the door speakers so that the sound isn't so thin with the 2020 head unit.

Just grab Boss BE7ACP from Crutchfield, add there package to retain almost all stock functions and get there pre made wiring harness all for less than 400$ shipped. Its made for your 2019 Model car:)