Apple iPhone SE Review: This Is the iPhone to Buy Right Now

Rumorsof a tatty , smaller iPhone swirl for years before Apple actually declare the $ 400 2nd - gen iPhone SE this month , so it ’s probable that the company has long been planning to release a replacement to its pop pint - sized iPhone . But the iPhone SE is so much a gadget of this specific moment in time that , if I did n’t screw any better , I ’d think Apple rushed its release .

The SE depend like an iPhone 8 , accomplished with bantam 4.7 - inch show , jumbo bezels , and a home clit with Touch ID . But inside is Apple ’s A13 Bionic CPU , go up straight from the iPhone 11 lineup , which makes everything about the SE faster and smarter . Even the photographic camera , which are the same single used in the iPhone 8 , get an upgrade due to the processor .

I do n’t consider the new iPhone to be a honest SE successor , because it ’s not a truly tiny phone . Those days are go , and they ’re not come up back . But the second - gen SE is better than I anticipated , and the best iPhone for most people in good order now .

This lone rear lens takes extremely good photos.Photo: Caitlin McGarry (Gizmodo)

iPhone SE ( 2020 )

What is it ?

Apple ’s inexpensive , smallest , newest iPhone

This lone rear lens takes extremely good photos.

This lone rear lens takes extremely good photos.Photo: Caitlin McGarry (Gizmodo)

Price

$ 400

Photo: Caitlin McGarry

Photo: Caitlin McGarry (Gizmodo)

little size of it makes it easy to habituate one - handed ; herculean performance ; Touch ID still useful ; substantial photos ; low-priced .

No like

Smaller silver screen is a hard adaptation if you ’re used to a large headphone ; battery life could be longer .

Photo: Caitlin McGarry

Photo: Caitlin McGarry (Gizmodo)

Things are weird right now . When I received an iPhone SE review unit , I realise I could n’t test its cameras the way I commonly would — low - lit nights out with friends , crowded beach sidereal day , or scenic LA hikes . I had to shoot around my apartment , on my balcony , and on the street in front of my building ( with a masquerade party on , while remaining six ft from others ) . I did n’t wait to be all that impressed with the SE ’s photos . After all , the newest iPhone is using the 3 - year - onetime iPhone 8 ’s 12 - megapixel rearward camera lens and its 7 - megapixel front - facing one , aniFixIt teardown confirmed .

But that A13 Bionic processor is kinda magical . Its image signal central processing unit and neural locomotive , paired with iOS 13 , are enough to overcome many of the hardware shortfall ( different sensor , no telephoto or ultra - wide - angle rearward lenses , and no depth - sense crystalline lens on the front ) to create images that are often on equality with what you ’d see from the iPhone 11 Pro Max — which , at $ 700 more than the SE , is Apple ’s priciest iPhone .

I compared the SE to the Max(the only 11 model I have on hand due to quarantine ) and was pleasantly surprised , peculiarly with the cheaper sound ’s portraiture . The smart HDR also makes backlit shots more elaborate .

Photo: Caitlin McGarry

Photo: Caitlin McGarry (Gizmodo)

https://gizmodo.com/the-iphone-se-versus-the-iphone-11-pros-camera-1843109184

But the SE lack a dedicated Night Mode or the Pro ’s Deep Fusion feature of speech , and in humbled light , gloss and detail are drop off . The SE ’s 5x digital zoom falls short of the 11 Pro Max ’s 2x optical and 10x digital zoom . As you’re able to see in the guessing below , the SE is very good at most thing , in particular for its low price , but if you want an amazing camera for nighttime and telephotograph shot , you ’ll ask to spend more . Much more .

The fact that the SE can adjudge its own against the 11 Pro Max in a variety of scenario is telling . When you look around at the $ 400 smartphone landscape painting , very few tawdry phone ’ images rival a flagship ’s . In fact , the only one I can think of isGoogle ’s Pixel 3a , which is also a great budget phone , but I ’m not sure how many people are still trying to decide between iPhone and Android .

Photo: Caitlin McGarry

Photo: Caitlin McGarry (Gizmodo)

With the world what it is , I realized that Touch ID , which has come up to seem out-of-date to me , is incredibly useful now that Face ID does n’t work when I ’m weary a mask .

Touch ID is faster than I remember it being , though I have n’t used it since I upgraded from an iPhone 7 Plus to an iPhone XS . I appreciated being able to pull my phone out at a foodstuff depot or my turning point bodega to use Apple Pay without have to type in my passcode to authenticate the dealing . Will I appreciate this when I no longer have to overcompensate my fount in public ? peradventure not .

What I really desire is a 4.7 - inch iPhone that is almost only screen , with an in - display fingerprint sensor as a backup unlocking method and wildly good cameras — an iPhone 12 Pro Mini , if you will . And ideally , I ’d get all that for $ 400 . Clearly , that ’s not gon na happen . After a few days , the SE ’s thick bezel did n’t get at me much . But the SE ’s screen size felt strangle to me , even after a workweek . I desire the heroic display I ’ve produce used to on the XS and 11 Pro . If you ’re upgrading from an iPhone 8 ( or an sure-enough earpiece , the like the 6s or 7 ) , the blind size wo n’t bother you .

Photo: Caitlin McGarry

Photo: Caitlin McGarry (Gizmodo)

And for $ 400 , you do get a ton of lineament that make those bezel worth the patronage - off . When it comes to execution , the SE feel every bit as fast as my daily driver , the iPhone XS , which has a 2018 - geological era A12 Bionic chip . The SE ’s A13 Bionic powers the great photos you saw above , but also some pretty neat augment reality apps and radical - smooth gaming .

The SE ’s chicken feed design also enables wireless charging , which is rare in a sub-$500 headphone . ( You do n’t get that with the Pixel 3a . ) Anecdotally , the SE ’s battery life lasted a full , 16 - hour day ( and then some ) in my week of testing . I watched YouTube television , sent Slack message , streamed music while working out , and Instagrammed more than a healthy person probably should — hey , quarantine ai n’t easy . In our video rundown test , the iPhone SE lasted a little over 9 hours , which is in line of business with the iPhone 8 before it . If you need a longer - lasting iPhone , the Pro example are the ones to buy .

The $ 700iPhone 11is also a substantial , if more expensive , alternative and lasted 12 hours in our testing . So for $ 300 more you get better battery life , a bigger screen door , two-fold lenses alternatively of the triple - lens system on the Pro models , but also Night mode and Deep Fusion for Pro - even quality photos . The job , besides being $ 300 more , is the 6.1 - in 11 is monumental , and that will make a vast departure for many people .

Photo: Caitlin McGarry

Photo: Caitlin McGarry (Gizmodo)

Would I pick out the iPhone SE over the 11 , the 11 Pro , or whichever $ 1,000 iPhone arrive out this fall ? No , but that ’s more due to the demands of my chore than the SE ’s failings . Its price and feature of speech are perfectly designed for this uncertain time , when hoi polloi are focused more on staying hefty and observe their jobs and home than balling out on flagship phones . populate without a smartphone is fundamentally nonnegotiable the yr of our lord 2020 , so if you need a new twist and you ’re watching your wallet , the iPhone SE is the budget telephone to vanquish .