The iPhone SE Review
by Brandon Chester on May 16, 2016 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Apple
- Mobile
- iPhone
- iPhone SE
Still Image Quality
Like the iPhone 6s, the iPhone SE has a 12MP 1/3" camera sensor, and a lens with an f/2.2 aperture. With the A9 SoC also comes the same image signal processor (ISP), and so in theory photos should be identical between the two phones. This represents an enormous improvement from the iPhone 5s, which used Apple's first 1/3" sensor with a resolution of 8MP. Moving to a higher resolution sensor has enabled UHD video recording, and the new ISP built into A9 allows for 1080p120 slow motion video as well as Apple's Live Photos feature. Based on my experience, the iPhone SE and the iPhone 6s produce identical results when taking photos and shooting video, but I've put together two comparisons below just to illustrate that fact.
| Daytime Photography |
Photos taken in the day with the iPhone SE look quite good. Photos are noticeably sharper than on the 5s, which is a combination of the higher resolution sensor and two years of improvements to Apple's image signal processor when going from Apple A7 to Apple A9. As expected, the image quality is essentially the same as the 6s due to their shared camera and ISP, and it definitely gives the best results I've seen from a $400 phone.
| Night Photography |
Night time photos on the iPhone SE are identical to those from the iPhone 6s. In this case it almost looks like I just took the one photo and shifted it slightly, as the exposure, processing, and level of detail are the same between the SE and the 6s.
What’s interesting about the iPhone SE sharing a camera with the iPhone 6s is the fact that they’re priced $250 apart. Daytime photo quality on the iPhone 6s is quite good, but it’s definitely a step behind the 6s Plus and the best Android device in low light due to its smaller sensor than the Android flagships and the lack of OIS which is included on the 6s Plus. At $400, Apple is playing a completely different game, as the camera quality is often one of the first things to be sacrificed when you step down from the flagship price bracket. I would argue that the iPhone SE gives you the best camera in a smartphone at its price point.
Given that the iPhone SE and iPhone 6s use the same camera, there's not much point in repeating a large number of photo tests. My Galaxy S6's VCM also broke which unfortunately prevented me from including it in these comparisons. For some additional photo comparisons and some video comparisons you can take a look at those sections from our iPhone 6s review where a number of 2015's Android flagship smartphones are also compared.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
138 Comments
View All Comments
michael2k - Tuesday, May 17, 2016 - link
What exactly did you want to see? S7 is slightly slower than the iPhone SE in CPU, slower NAND, slightly faster in GPU offscreen, slightly slower in GPU onscreen (due to larger and higher resolution screen), several hundred dollars more, and about the same battery life.http://www.anandtech.com/show/10120/the-samsung-ga...
Che - Wednesday, May 18, 2016 - link
I want to read reviews for the various android phones released this year. I am not in the market for an iPhone, personal preference.I think you missed my point.
michael2k - Friday, May 20, 2016 - link
I did, sorry. When you said 'lack of review of Galaxy S7' I had misinterpreted your comment as a complaint that they didn't compare the SE to the S7.jav_eee - Tuesday, May 17, 2016 - link
The only part I disagree with is where you mention that the 6 feels better in the hand. I don't think it does. It is much too slippery. The 5 was perfect.Silvio6 - Tuesday, May 17, 2016 - link
This looks like the benchmarks were extracted from a tool, and not realy real-life tests. For example, i was told the fingerprint sensor was slower than the one from the 6 and 6s. How much slower ? The one in the 6 is acceptable, but i wish there was the one in the 6s. There is no mention of it in the tests, and this is something anyone would be confronted to multiple times a day.bodonnell - Wednesday, May 18, 2016 - link
It is slower than the 6s, but at worst it should perform similar to Touch ID in the 6 as both use the 1st gen sensor. In practice it may be slightly faster than the 6 as the A9 chip processes the unlock faster than the A8 in the 6.heartinpiece - Tuesday, May 17, 2016 - link
For the NAND tests are the read/writes to NAND encrypted?I'm guessing some of the other compared devices are not encrypted... Could you elaborate, or distinguish the encrypted from unencrypted devices?
Brandon Chester - Tuesday, May 17, 2016 - link
In mobile if a device is encrypted then you're usually stuck with that, so I don't see any point in differentiating. In the end we're still comparing devices as they work within the limitations of their hardware and software, not the hardware components individually.gochichi - Wednesday, May 18, 2016 - link
I'm really happy with the Nexus 5X, including the great price, camera, 32GB option, etc. I'm a happy camper.Nick Arthur - Wednesday, May 18, 2016 - link
It seems a transitional version between 5 and 6 but combines some advantages of the two version together. The price is much cheaper, exactly.