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
Battery Life - Matching the iPhone 8
In terms of battery life, the iPhone SE is said to perform similarly to the iPhone 8. Apple here employs a much newer and more efficient SoC in the form of the A13, while retaining the same battery capacity and display panel as the older phone. In essence, what we’re testing here is merely Apple’s calibration of the iPhone SE’s A13 chip in terms of its performance vs energy usage. Naturally of course, the new SE will have a more efficient cellular and WiFi chip as well which will contribute to the efficiency of the device.
In our web browsing test that we were able to run overnight, the iPhone SE confirms Apple’s claims of it matching the iPhone 8, and we’re essentially getting near identical results at 10.7h vs 10.4h, only a few minutes apart difference between the two devices.
We had noted in our iPhone 11 review that Apple’s battery life marketing claims oddly matched the results in our web test, and this again is the case for the new iPhone SE.
Whilst the iPhone SE isn’t able to match the longevity of the iPhone 11’s, it’s still a reasonably good result considering the battery capacity and size of the phone.
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Deicidium369 - Sunday, April 26, 2020 - link
Meh I guess poor people need phone too. Too bad they have to get Appleeuskalzabe - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
To be fair, every other review (I've read 6 so far) had a much better experience with the camera. It's likely the sample AT received might have been camera-defective.michael2k - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
The people who will buy this phone probably don't see the excitement either. Just like people who buy Corollas or Civics don't see the excitement in their cars; they don't want an exciting car, they just want a reasonably good car.So in that sense, it doesn't matter that this was a world class design years ago, it just matters that it promises 5 years of OS support, 3 years of reasonably battery life, 10 hours of battery use, $399 price point, and smaller size, as well as compatibility with their existing 5 year old phone.
My sister in law has a 5 year old iPhone. My daughter has a 4 year old iPhone. Both are likely candidates for this phone because it's cheap and good enough.
You can argue there are plenty of Android phones that are cheap and good enough, but those phones don't get 4 years of OS upgrades.
cha0z_ - Wednesday, August 5, 2020 - link
mmm 6s is already guaranteed 6 years with ios14 (it will be supported fully to atleast September 2021) + apple still releases security updates for iphones as old as 4s, so you are wrong - the support is even better than you present it + new battery is 50$ original.Retycint - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
So a summary of the review: great chipset, great screen with thick bezels, decent battery life, decent camera. In contrast to Android mid-rangers with great battery life, good screen with thin-ish bezels, decent camera, decent chipset.This makes the iPhone SE really good value, compared to most Androids at the same price range, but not necessarily an instant buy especially for people who don't need the chipset prowess (social media/youtube etc)
shabby - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
One thing those android mid-rangers lack will be 5 years of software updates, that and a high end soc.Kudos to Apple, you're turn google... but who are we kidding.
crimson117 - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
That's a great point, 5 years updates and a chipset that should keep up with those updates.duploxxx - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
5 years of updates that will make it 10% slower every year and remove 10% battery life every year.I am so happy you are convinced that updates is all you need….
try lineageOS and see how many updates and android versions are available for ARM cpu . My oneplus one backup device is running lineageOS 17.1 that is android 10... a 2013 device and still as fast as day 1.... good look with your 5y speedy IOS updates.
haukionkannel - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
When we get Android phone that get those updates without loaderfu... Then I would be impressed. Now it is two to three years and after that you have to do things that 99% of phone users don`t know how. Don`t get me wrong. LineageOS is food thing. It just should be automatic option without need the user to do a thing!trparky - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
Once again you prove that your average tech enthusiast is out of touch with the average person on the street. Yes, you can say that you can load LineageOS but how many average Joe's are actually going to load it let alone know how to load it? Not many.Your average person doesn't know how to do that so for those kinds of people this iPhone SE (2020 version) ticks every single box while being a low-priced device with guaranteed software updates for at least five years. This is a serious win for people who aren't geeks and nerds.