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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cha0z_ - Wednesday, August 5, 2020 - link
My secondary iphone 6s is as fast and smoother on ios 14 beta 3 vs my exynos note 9. So I guess what happened with 4s will stay there and you all can stop using that argument without knowing nothing how things works nowdays. Same for ios "limiting" roflmao, there are literally tons of settings that you can change and tweak without jailbreak and jailbreak is insanely customizable with high quality stuff. Not to mention that the last few things missing are added in ios14 - app drawer, widgets on the screen, caller notification while you are using the phone, picture in picture for videos.Apple not only FULLY supports for 6+ years with day one major/minor/beta the same way as their most expensive current iphone, but they also still release security updates for iphones as old as 4s from 2011. Now let's take a look at my note 9 - they wanted to abandon the phone at ONE YEAR AND A HALF MARK! Only backslash make them reconsider and release oneui 2.1 for that phone. What GREAT support by samsung for my 1k euro phone! Android manufacturers was quick to bump prices to apple's and beyond apple's level, but don't want to provide the same benefits. Noo, they provide 2 vs 6 years support that is "region based" and on top of that the biggest android representative - samsung - sells 2 years behind exynos cr*p in Europe and most of the world for profits! Enough is enough.
blackcrayon - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
"best performance when you just look at benchmarks"Or, you know, actually running software which these benchmarks represent, year after year. "Optimised benchmark OS" is also pretty hilarious, considering what Apple's competitors have been proven to be guilty of, but not them for some reason...
michael2k - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
You do realize that Apple has something like 45% market share here in the US, right? Calling half the target audience 'dummies' doesn't win you friends.In any case, I don't see why you're so angry about a phone you won't use? It sounds like all this is irrelevant to you.
Retycint - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
To be fair, about 46% of people voted for Trump in 2016, so I'd wager there are at least 46% of the US population who are idiotsjospoortvliet - Saturday, April 25, 2020 - link
note that some had reasonable reasons to vote for him:- think he would become reasonable once in office and as long time republican bought into all the conspiracy nonsense about hilary
- believed he was a successful business man, would not be corrupt as he didn't need money and might run the country differently from politicians (yes he was a bad business man and a con man just looking to earn but most ppl figured that out after the elections)
- don't care for anyone else but themselves and betting he would lower taxes (he did so win for them)
That's about it but covers a lot of people in a country where collaborating
and caring for others is discouraged (individualism ftw), where CEO's and the rich are worshipped, government feared and education is bad while fake news and election interference (mostly through making it harder to vote) is rampant.
Deicidium369 - Sunday, April 26, 2020 - link
- He was always a jackass- He was never successful in business - he amassed a small fortune by starting with a large one
- Every president since Reagan has give me and my kind a massive tax cut after massive taxcut. I have never abd will never vote for a republican.
I am sure I am not worshipped by my over 1000 employees - 900 or so have been idled since 3rd week in March - and are and will continue to draw full pay (based on 40 hours, some were getting 50+ while working - pay 25% above national average for those positions at $22/hr) and don't need the federal bailout - since I am a Liberal, and actually understand what so many so called "job creators" don't - how to run a business, and understanding that having at least a year worth of full Opex in the bank. Also have spent $3-4M this year to make sure the kids who only got 1 meal a day - while they were in school are getting something to eat. Also funding various foodbanks in my area.
So don't lump us all together - I doubt you are doing 1% of what this 1%er is doing.
sonny73n - Saturday, April 25, 2020 - link
I don’t need dummies for friends. I’m using an iPhone too. Not because I want to but my wife likes to use FaceTime. It’s a 4 years old 6s and it would be the last iPhone I ever bought.Deicidium369 - Sunday, April 26, 2020 - link
Don't need friends - and I could do without 55% of the population - starting with the people who live in the Red welfare states (ALL red states are welfare states)Sharma_Ji - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
1/3rd price of android flagships, so your market is limited to USA only, i see.Cause where i live, people with average hands can easily buy and use a flagship android for the price this SE2 sells here.
euskalzabe - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
Well, yeah, AT is based on the USA, so of course they're more focused on that market. I wish we could buy Xiaomi or Huawei devices like my friends do in Europe: great phones for bargain prices. Then you look at the LTE bands they support, and bam, they don't work in the USA. So this SE is an incredible deal in a $400 territory where we don't have a lot of options.