iPhone SE comes up with a splendid design. Here is an in depth analysis of this phone.
Design and build
The iPhone SE is, in terms of design, the iPhone 5s – but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The iPhone SE is crafted from the same bead-blasted aluminium as the 5s, providing users with a smooth finish that doesn’t show fingerprints, although it isn’t the strengthened Series 7000 aluminium present in the iPhone 6s. The blocky, edgy and slightly industrial design of the iPhone 5s, in our opinion, at least, was before its time and looks as good today as it did when it was unveiled back in September 2013. It’s the small details of the iPhone SE design that make it what it is, from the matte-chamfered edges to the stainless steel logo on the rear of the smartphone.
Many smartphone manufacturers are shying away from pointed edges, employing curved edges and even curved displays in some cases, as this provides users with something that’s more comfortable to hold, especially with a large display. However due to the small dimensions of the iPhone SE - 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6 mm to be exact – along with the pointed edges provides us with extra grip, with no real worry about the iPhone slipping from our hand, as curved smartphones like the iPhone 6s tend to do.
It’s also lightweight at only 113g, making it 30g lighter than Apple’s flagship. Essentially, if you’re looking for a small and lightweight smartphone, the iPhone SE looks to be a good option.
If you do decide to grab yourself an iPhone SE, you’ll have a choice of colours to choose from. Along with the fairly standard Silver, Space Grey and Gold you’ll also find a Rose Gold colour option, Apple’s latest ‘flavour’ that made its debut on the iPhone 6s and Apple Watch back in September 2015, and recently made its way to the 9.7in iPad Pro.
Apple ditched the 3.5mm jack on the iPhone 7 to make its flagship smartphone thinner than ever, which is of course bad news for those of us with expensive, wired headphones (and everyone else, too). Thankfully the 3.5mm jack is present on the iPhone SE at the bottom of the device, situated next to the Lightning port and speaker grille.
The lock button is in the same place as the iPhone 5s, at the top of the device, which may take some getting used to as many manufacturers now place the power button on the right-hand side of smartphones. We found ourselves initially reaching to the right to lock it, but it’s something you get used to fairly quickly. The circular (opposed to pill shape with the iPhone 6 and newer) volume buttons and silent mode toggle are in the same place though, on the left-hand side of the iPhone SE. While we love familiarity, we’re a tad disappointed that the Home button houses the same first generation Touch ID sensor as the iPhone 5s did, despite the iPhone 6s shipping with a much faster and more accurate second generation sensor.
Of course, the biggest (or should we say smallest?) feature of the iPhone SE is its small 4in display, allowing the smartphone to be used comfortably with one hand. Many users weren’t comfortable with the 4.7in and 5.5in iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, and some even held back on upgrading because they couldn’t, for whatever reason, get on with a large display. We tend to use larger iPhones, so the experience of going from an iPhone 6s to an iPhone SE was strange – but in a good way.
We’d forgotten just how comfortable it is to hold a phone so small. We’d forgotten how easy it was to text and use one handed. We forgot about the magic of a small-screen smartphone. Sure, there are downsides to having a smaller display; text is larger and fills up more of the screen, less information is displayed at once, pictures are a little harder to see and, in our opinion, games aren’t as enjoyable, but there’s something about the 4in smartphone that makes it a joy to use. It could be the reachability as we’re easily able to reach every button using our thumb, or it could just be that a smaller smartphone feels more secure and comfortable in the hand. Whatever it is, we’re a fan of it.
DisplayLet’s talk a little bit more about that 4in display that so many Apple users were craving prior to the iPhone SE announcement. The iPhone SE features a 4in IPS LCD display which Apple markets as being a ‘Retina display’. For those unsure of what a Retina display is, Apple coined the term to refer to devices that have a resolution and pixel density of around 300ppi (pixels per inch) or higher, as the pixel density is so high that the user is unable to pick out individual pixels at a normal viewing distance. It's not to be confused with Retina HD either - we explain the definitions of Retina and Retina HD here.
This is indeed true of the iPhone SE – the 4in iPhone boasts a fairly low resolution (when compared to Android smartphones anyway) of 640x1136, but because of the small dimensions of the display it equates to 326ppi, the same as Apple’s iPhone 6s.
While all that sounds fairly impressive, what users can see and experience with their eyes is what is most important. The iPhone SE display is surprisingly crisp, but this is most apparent when looking at text. Why? The high pixel density display provides smooth curves and sharpness of text that can rival printed text, and this makes reading everything from text messages to eBooks on the small display a comfortable (and enjoyable) experience.
However since iOS 10, we've found the software to not be fully optimised for the smaller 4in screen. With the latest iPhones having larger displays, it feels that Apple has simply shrunk down the interface, making basic operations very hard on the smaller 4in iPhone - unless of course, if you have very small hands!
The same can be said with high-quality photos – as long as the image you’re looking at is relatively high resolution, you can pick out tiny details in the photo that may not be visible on other, low-resolution smartphones. Colours are bright and vibrant too, although we wouldn’t mind seeing Apple employ a Super AMOLED display on one of its smartphones in future to provide the extra ‘wow’ factor that many Android rivals have.
3D Touch is one of the flagship features of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, allowing the display to measure the amount of force exerted instead of only registering touch input. Some claim that this will reinvent the way that iPhone 6s users interact with their smartphones, and we expect the feature to be present in every subsequent Apple flagship smartphone. Developers are integrating ‘peek and pop’ integration into their apps and adding shortcuts to the home screen icons, providing users with completely new ways to interact with their apps. With such an emphasis on 3D Touch, we were hoping that the feature would make an appearance on the iPhone SE – but we were wrong.
There is no 3D Touch integration and while this probably isn’t a deal breaker for most, it could mean that the iPhone SE may get ‘left behind’ sooner rather than later. We’re not talking about iOS updates as the SE will be supported for years to come – we’re talking more about in terms of features available to them. In the same way that iPhone 5 (and earlier) users can’t use Touch ID as a form of identification in apps, iPhone SE users may not be able to perform actions that improve the overall app/iOS experience.
Interestingly, thanks to an iFixit teardown, it was revealed that the iPhone SE features the same front panel as was used with the iPhone 5s. This means that both the display and front facing camera are the exact same as Apple’s 2013 flagship and while this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it explains the lack of 3D Touch integration.
Performance and benchmarkingApple fans called for another 4in iPhone because the three-year-old iPhone 5s just isn’t up to scratch anymore, so it was important for Apple to make sure that the 4in iPhone SE was powerful enough to compete with other flagship smartphones on the market. The company seems to have succeeded, as inside the iPhone SE you’ll find Apple’s A9 chipset paired with an M9 motion co-processor and 2GB of RAM - exactly what’s found in Apple’s flagship iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.
This means, generally speaking, that the iPhone SE should provide similar performance levels to its bigger and more expensive brother, the iPhone 6s. In fact, due to the smaller resolution of the 4in display, it may even perform slightly better than the flagship Apple smartphone – in theory, anyway. But before we talk about benchmarking scores, let’s first talk about what the iPhone SE is actually like to use in terms of performance.
The iPhone SE is rapid, there is no doubt about that. Swiping between app menus and opening apps is almost instant, and the SE doesn’t even stutter when opening the Camera – an area that notoriously slows down smartphones. Even though we mentioned above that the 4in display of the iPhone SE doesn’t provide the best gaming experience possible, that’s down to screen size and not performance. We’ve played a series of games on the iPhone SE from relatively simple platformers like Crossy Road to more power-intense games like Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions and futuristic racer AG Drive with no sign of lag or unresponsiveness.
In fact, we even went out of our way to try and get the iPhone SE to fall over and stutter/lag by doing things like changing app while loading a power-intensive game, or constantly opening and closing an app (we know, technical right?). All our efforts were futile, though, as the iPhone SE laughed at our poor efforts and didn’t even break a sweat, responding to every single tap. So it’s fair to say that the iPhone SE can match the iPhone 6s performance in general, but it’s time to talk specifics.
We ran three separate tests – Geekbench, GFXBench and AnTuTu – to test the performance of the iPhone SE, and to make sure there were no anomalies in the results, we ran each test three times and took the average score of each.
In Geekbench 3, our first benchmark test, the iPhone SE scored 2254 in the single-core test and 4459 in the multi-core test, which actually beat our iPhone 6s Geekbench results, (although not by much) by scoring 2511 and 4404 respectively. This puts the iPhone SE in line with the likes of the Galaxy S6 (4438) and Moto X Force (4455), two smartphones with similar pricing, suggesting that the iPhone SE performance is just right for its price tag. It also suggests that the iPhone 6s is underperforming based on its price, but that’s another story altogether.
In AnTuTu, a general performance benchmark test, the iPhone SE scored 123,981, which by itself means absolutely nothing. For reference, it’s not quite as good as the iPhone 6s which scored 134,067, but it is almost double the score of the last 4in iPhone, the iPhone 5s. The iPhone 5s managed only 64,901 which, according to AnTuTu at least, suggests that the iPhone SE provides double the performance of its older sibling. It’s still not enough to beat the Galaxy S7 in this respect, though, as the flagship Samsung smartphone scored 129,077 in our sister site PC Advisor’s test.
However, it’s in the graphics department that the iPhone SE really shines, and the GFXBench results speak for themselves. We ran two graphic-intense benchmarks in GFXBench (Manhattan and T-Rex) and measured the frame rate of each, and the iPhone SE scored an impressive average score of 58fps and 60fps respectively.
How does this compare to the competition? Incredibly, the iPhone SE beats almost all competition, including the recently released Samsung Galaxy S7. Let’s take a look at T-Rex; the iPhone SE scored 60fps (matching the iPhone 6s score), beating the 53fps score of the Galaxy S7 and Xperia Z5 Premium. It’s the same story in Manhattan too, with the SE hitting 58fps compared to the 52fps offering of the iPhone SE, and 27fps offering from the Galaxy S7. While the results seem too good to be true, there is a simple explanation for the results.
GFXBench measures the graphical power of your smartphone, but it doesn’t take into consideration the resolution – something that varies from smartphone to smartphone and is very important for graphics benchmarks. Why? Essentially, smartphones with a small resolution like the iPhone SE with a decent processor will perform better than those with a larger resolution and high-end processor as the processor and GPU have to power fewer pixels on-screen.
This means that even though the iPhone SE outperforms the Galaxy S7 in benchmark tests, this is due to the fact that the iPhone SE features a sub-full HD display (640x1136) while the Samsung flagship features a QHD (Quad HD) display, boasting an eye-watering resolution of 1440x2560. Of course, this only matters when directly comparing smartphones, and doesn’t mean that the iPhone SE underperforms in any way – in fact, the combination of a low-res display and decent processor works pretty well if you’re not too fussed about high-resolution gaming.
Curious about how the iPhone SE compares to the rest of the iPhone family? We've benchmarked every iPhone available to buy from Apple to see just how different each generation is, and presented it in the form of an interactive graph below:
Camera and photographyThe iPhone SE features a 12Mp rear facing camera which, contrary to popular belief, isn’t identical to the camera used in the flagship iPhone 6s. While the two cameras aren’t the same, the iPhone SE does have the same 12Mp sensor and fast image signal processor as the flagship iPhone, providing SE users with higher resolution images. This is especially true of panoramas, jumping up to a maximum of 63Mp compared to 28Mp photos possible with the iPhone 5s. It also provides quicker capture times, which is what we’ve found in our tests – photos were taken almost instantly in our experience.
The iPhone SE also features Live Photo support, a feature that was (up until now) unique to the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. When Live Photos is enabled in the Camera app, you'll capture a small video clip from before and after the photo was taken which can be played back at any time with audio. It provides users with a snapshot of a moment or memory and is a great feature to have when you're feeling a little nostalgic.
Battery lifeBattery life is an important factor of any smartphone, and the iPhone SE doesn’t disappoint – although official battery life tests seemingly disagree. The iPhone SE features a 1624mAh battery, which is slightly bigger than the 1560mAh battery featured in the iPhone 5s, and boasts with a more efficient processor, suggesting that the iPhone SE would have better battery life. Apple itself claims that the iPhone SE will manage up to 14 hours of 3G talk time or 13 hours of Internet browsing on Wi-Fi and while we found it hard to confirm these claims, we found the iPhone SE battery life to be generally quite good.
We understand that ‘good’ isn’t the best word to use when describing the iPhone SE battery life, so it’s best to give real-world examples based on our time with the smartphone. We, like many other commuters, use our iPhone to listen to music during our morning commute. When using our iPhone 6s, we usually get to work with around 80-85 percent battery remaining however when we used the iPhone SE, we found that it only drained by 8-10 percent. While it’s not a huge difference when in use, the iPhone SE in standby lasted an impressively long time – we managed to go almost two days straight without charging the smartphone, although our usage was admittedly limited.
So why don’t official battery tests support our real-world usage claims? We’re not quite sure. We ran two battery life tests on our iPhone SE and according to the results, the smartphone lasted around four hours before it ran out of charge. In comparison, a decent Android smartphone can last from anywhere between six and nine hours on a single charge. We’re not quite sure why this is happening and it may be down to different methods of battery life benchmarking on iOS and Android, but we refuse to stand by the results and claim that the iPhone SE should go most of the day (if not all day, with normal usage) without needing a charge.
SoftwareAs of September 2016, the iPhone SE comes running Apple’s latest operating system, iOS 10 – if you have bought an older boxed version of the SE, it might come with iOS 9, where you'll be entitled to a free upgrade to iOS 10 (provided you have an internet connection).
While Apple’s iOS mobile operating system is essentially the same across all its devices, there are a number of features unique to a handful of smartphones including the iPhone SE. The biggest software feature of the iPhone SE is ‘Hey Siri’ support, something only available on the latest Apple products including the iPhone 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus and 9.7in iPad Pro. What is it? iPhone SE users can teach Siri to recognise their voice, and from that point can activate Siri hands-free simply by saying “Hey Siri”. Siri, for those unaware, is Apple’s virtual assistant that can handle a variety of requests, from making calls to finding out the meaning of obscure words like ‘cantankerous’.
Along with Hey Siri, iOS 9 also introduced a contextually intelligent, predictive assistant that Apple refers to as ‘Proactive’ - this feature is available on iOS 10 too. No, this doesn’t mean that Siri will start having human conversations about your day – instead, you’ll be offered a series of shortcuts to various contacts and apps depending on your habits. Say, for example, you call your other half every day after work at 5:30pm. Proactive will learn this habit over time and at around 5:30, it’ll offer a one-tap shortcut to call your partner. It’s the same with apps, and it’ll even offer a Music app shortcut on the lock screen whenever headphones are plugged in. As with Apple’s design philosophy, it’s the little things about iOS 9 and 10 that make it what it is.
However, as noted in our display section, we found the latest iOS 10 software to be not fully optimised for a smaller 4in screen - where certain things are very hard to click on and it's obvious that the problem wouldn't exist on a larger screen. A prime example is using music apps, where the seek bar and controls are extremely hard to press, unless you have very small fingers.
Pricing and availabilitySo, how much will you have to spend to get yourself an iPhone SE, and is it worth the money? Apple launched the iPhone SE alongside the 9.7in iPad Pro on April 1, 2016, which was incidentally Apple’s 40th birthday. Unlike with other models of the iPhone, the iPhone SE is only available in two variations; one with 16GB of storage and one with 64GB of storage. The smaller variant will set you back £379 while the 64GB variant will set you back £50 more at £429 - these can be purchased via the Apple Store directly, or through other retailers like John Lewis.
The important question is how does this compare to Apple’s other smartphones? Let’s compare it to the 18-month-old iPhone 6, which is similarly priced. The iPhone 6 also comes in only 16 and 64GB capacities, a choice Apple took once the iPhone 6s was released – those looking for a 128GB iPhone 6 will probably be able to find one online, just not directly from Apple. Anyway, we digress; a 16GB iPhone 6 with 16GB of storage costs £459 while a 64GB iPhone 6 costs £539, £80 more. That’s more expensive than the iPhone SE, a phone with more powerful internals, a better camera and enhanced software features.
That means that for a similar amount of money you can get a top-tier, recently launched iPhone SE or an iPhone 6, a phone that launched in September 2014, with only 16GB of storage. But why? Because of the larger 4.7in screen. If you don’t mind using a small display smartphone then the choice, at least to us, is obvious – the iPhone SE blows the iPhone 6 out of the water in almost every area.
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