The iPhone SE (2020) Review: A Reinvigorated Classic
by Andrei Frumusanu on April 24, 2020 6:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Apple
- Smartphones
- iPhone SE
- Apple A13
- iPhone SE 2020
First Thoughts & End Remarks
This very much has been a light-speed review for a phone that at the time of writing I’ve only received 23 hours ago now, but the iPhone SE is also a phone which many of us should actually be plenty familiar with.
There’s no doubt that Apple's choice of recycling the iPhone 8 design and housing is related to achieving the super low $399 cost of the iPhone SE. This is a manufacturing chain that has been pumping out hundreds of millions of these phones over the years and I imagine that re-using that machinery very much helps the affordability of the phone.
It’s a very familiar design, but it’s certainly no longer a modern one. Besides the actual price of the phone, I can imagine that for some the biggest selling point of the phone is that it’s so a small device compared to other contemporary options. Particularly for people attached to the iPhone and iOS ecosystem, the iPhone SE is the only option going forward if you’re after a small form-factor phone.
The iPhone SE’s display is in line with that of the iPhone 8, meaning it’s an excellent LCD panel with outstandingly good color calibration, although it’s no longer keeping up in terms of brightness and resolution with newer generation OLED phones.
Performance of the iPhone SE is arguably the very best part of the phone, and Apple’s choice to go with the new A13 chipset is an outright disruptive move in the $399 sector. In essence, Apple’s lowest-end phone right now outperforms all other Android flagships on the market, painting quite the stark contrast of the competitive situation of the silicon playing-field.
Camera performance of the iPhone SE was the biggest question mark for the phone, and the new SE delivers on its promises. In daylight pictures, there’s much better HDR and dynamic range characteristics, and Apple here is mostly able to match the compositions of the iPhone 11 in the vast majority of scenarios. Detail-wise, the phone is also extremely strong although slightly lagging behind the class-leading iPhone 11 cameras. Meanwhile colour temperature is still on the warmer side, similar to previous generation iPhones.
Low-light capture, whilst not explicitly tested in this piece today, is significantly improved for the new iPhone SE, massively upgrading the quality of shots compared to the iPhone 8. Whilst it doesn’t quite match the low-light ability of the iPhone 11 series, it’s a very respectable performer here given the lack of computational photography.
Overall, at the end of the day what the new 2020 iPhone SE represents is a $399 iPhone – and that’s a selling point all by itself. It’s a significantly better device than the now discontinued iPhone 8, for a cheaper price. You’re getting the best performance of any mobile device out there on the market – and the compromises in the screen, battery life and cameras are reasonable given the price of the phone.
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Deicidium369 - Sunday, April 26, 2020 - link
Don't make the iSheep think - they will end up drinking bleach and shooting up Lysol.cha0z_ - Thursday, August 6, 2020 - link
I have a secondary iphone 6s that I ran on ios12, ios13 and currently ios14 beta - you clearly have no clue what you are talking about rofl. It's as fast and SMOOTHER than my exynos note 9!!! Also there are tons of changes and added important new features between ios 12, 13 and 14.GC2:CS - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
Why would Apple make changes to the camera ? Is it significant enough to make it cheaper ?Maybe an iPad Pro camera part ? Those have soft details too.
Still looks like XR is better “Apple single camera” system. Unless those are problems with focusing software. But the rest of the image processing looks impressive.
Btw. I know iPhone 11 sensors are way faster than before, but is it confirmed they have RAM backed readout ? I don’t saw that anywhere.
Regarding battery life is there a plan for some heavy load test against iPhone8 like a GfX battery rundown ?
Regarding perf. A13 was only paired with 3000 mAh cells before. Now it is 1820. How the system can power such a beast without much effect on benchmarks...
And lastly could not be happier this was released. The 11’s feel brick like compared to this one. Just hope that some more small models are in making and not only from Apple.
Phantasma - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
Can you guys benchmark the memory speed of the flash storage ? pleaseTomatotech - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
I'm not sure if that's possible on iOS.Also, how would that number help? It is far faster than any method of getting data into or out of an iPhone, and Apple certainly has the chops to make sure that the speed selected maximises exactly the parameters of CPU requirements, power draw, app loading speed, and battery life.
Kind of reminds me of Rolls Royce - when asked how much horsepower their new car engine had, they merely said 'Adequate'.
isthisavailable - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
I would have been sold if they did something about the battery life but they didn't and that's a dealbreaker for me. When they removed 3d touch, all the other phones got a boost in battery capacity but not here for some reason. I guess "designing" a new battery would have pushed the cost from $399 to $402 and we CANNOT have that!Peskarik - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
broaden the product palette at virtually no cost, that is what Apple smartly done here, imho.What "designing"? I see zero "designing" in this phone.
Speedfriend - Saturday, April 25, 2020 - link
Actually further destroy the resale value of your iPhone.toyeboy89 - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
I don't think it would have been that simple. It's still a very small device. I have 2 day battery life on my iPhone 7 still with the Apple smart battery case if that's something you would consider getting with the SE.cha0z_ - Thursday, August 6, 2020 - link
No need, friend of mine got one and easily finish the day with 30% battery left, that's with heavy use. In numbers he can reach 5-6 hours screen on with 24h on battery and also calls, music/carplay, etc (offscreen usage). Not the greatest, but totally doable for most people, I think.