When the world zigs, you zag. Buy low, sell high. When the entire smartphone universe skews big, you reinvigorate the small. That, in a nutshell, is the mentality behind the iPhone SE. It’s a phone for those that love the smaller size but really wish they could have the power of a flagship phone.
Though the 4-inch form factor never really left Apple’s line-up, you’d be hard pressed to know that the iPhone 5S was still an on-sale option the day before the launch. The iPhone 6/6S (4.7-inch) and 6 Plus/6S Plus (5.5-inch) have dominated the landscape over the past two years, creating an opportunity for a brand to recapture the market for non-gargantuan phones.
4-inch respect
What’s particularly special about the iPhone SE is its newness. Rather than Apple introducing a new hero device and pushing an older phone down-range (as it did when the iPhone 5S found itself selling for $0 on contract), the iPhone SE is a purpose-built device. It’s small, relatively speaking, but it’s also mighty.
The camera has been overhauled and upgraded, boasting a 12-megapixel sensor and True Tone flash that puts it right up there alongside the snapper on the iPhone 6S. There’s also a potent 64-bit A9 chip, Bluetooth 4.2, a display that gets hella bright when you need to take a selfie in a dimly-lit room, and a starting price point of just $399 (16GB).
Exterior vibes
The exterior is svelte and sleek – every inch an iPhone, as we’re surmising Apple would say. The same exemplary precision found on the high-end iPhones is also found on the iPhone SE. At last, you don’t have to feel that you’re settling just to get a phone that’s easier to handle.
Handling the iPhone SE is a lovely affair, particularly if you’re coming from the iPhone 6S Plus. It’s dainty – cute, even – and although, obviously, it feels exactly as if you’re handling the iPhone 5S, there’s something extra novel about it now. It’s no longer the norm; the 4-inch form factor is now the exception.
Have we got to the point where a phone from 2013 is now considered retro?
The fit, finish and polish are just like the iPhone 5S. Honestly, if you weren’t told any different, you’d think you actually were handling the iPhone 5S, as the exterior frame remains the same. The same sharpness, the same rounded buttons on the side – it’s as if Apple opened a door in one of its warehouses and found a million boxes with the 5S chassis sitting around doing nothing.
Speed in a small package
Using the phone, however, is a markedly different experience to using the iPhone 5S, and that’s precisely what Apple needs to push.
The A9 chip enables the iPhone SE to open apps just as quickly as the iPhone 6S. It’s honestly quite refreshing to feel this much power in a phone this small – we just haven’t been privy to Apple’s top-end hardware in its smallest iPhone in a few years, and the glut of people still buying the iPhone 5 and 5C second-hand are a testament to the desire for this spec combination.
By shoving in the M9 co-processor, there are all the same specs and abilities that you’re getting on the newer phones too. So whether that’s monitoring your steps, or flights of stairs climbed, or just letting the phone note when it’s resting quietly on the desk, it’s all handled simply.
This means Hey Siri, the auto voice recognition function, is enabled – although whether you’ll use it more than three times during the life of the phone will depend on what kind of committed tech-fiend you are.
We weren’t able to test out the revamped 12-megapixel iSight camera, but we plan to just as soon as we get ourselves a unit outside of the hands-on area.
In terms of spec though, you’re getting the same camera mix as on the iPhone 6S. That means 4K video recording, the Focus Pixels to get the sharper autofocus, a True Tone flash – in short, all the bits that Apple has shouted about on the newer iPhones in the smaller package.
And by making the iPhone SE thicker, the camera bump is gone, which is great news for those that hated the ruined aesthetic from the raised section on the rear of the phone.
Early verdict
Notably, the iPhone SE looks and feels just like the iPhone 5S before it. It didn’t get slimmer, or more round, but we kind of dig it. There’s something novel about maintaining a tried-and-true design motif while overhauling everything within; indeed, that’s exactly the model Apple followed when transitioning from the iPhone 6 to 6S.
It’s the iPhone 5S but with the brains and brawn of the newer models, which will likely appeal to a great many iPhone fans – and many in the Android world looking for this size-and-power combo.
Sure, you could still nab a 5S now if you wanted and save a whole lot of cash, but in terms of performance and longevity of upgrades the SE is leaps and bounds ahead.
Source: techradar.com
Top Brands
Apple no longer innovate, they imitate and are the marketing masters
RAM could be an issue, but you're making an assumption based on lack of information.
You realise why it has a lower camera, touch ID and screen right? They're using the same ones off of the 5S for this. This is how they got the price so low – they've had to do very little development in comparison to making a whole new phone. They've put the new internals in, but no exterior work was needed. If they wanted to include all the upgraded front camera, an upgraded screen or touch ID, then guess what, the price would have gone up!
And not being able to use Apple Pay. What?! I don't know what country you live in, but in the UK it's everywhere.
You have a point on the storage, but consider what you'd be saying if they did up their 'budget' phone to 32gb minimum. "Oh my gawd, why does the 6S come with 16GB if the budget one has 32?!". I expect Apple knows that they need to change this, and when they bring out the next flagship phone I hope that they change it then. You can see their intention with the iPads to do the same.
all the grunt….annnnddddd undisclosed ram…
doesnt sound like all to me.
The Sony Z5 compact is better in every aspect and cheaper, in the UK at least, plus expandable storage.
Not a huge fan of the name 'SE', however ever really understood the whole 5/5S or 6/6S… I would have called them 5SE & 6SE (Second Edition) from the start… iPhone 6C (Compact) for this model would have made sense but it doesn't now due to the way the rest of line up is named….. however, buying the 5S last year due to disliking the size of the newer models, I'm happy that the SE has come along…. I'm not rushing out to buy it yet though, got my eyes on some other tech.
Lol. I'm going to borrow that to post to the iFappers over on BGR.
not to mention low res screen, same poor battery life and low storage
Apparently no new touch id either, they are still using the slower original one and at $500 for decent storage so you can use that 4K video recording it's still "cheaper" but far from cheap. You can get a much better GS6 for that currently!
don't forget the 4s(which now will be replaced by the SE)
2GB has been confirmed
you mean, most android phones dont have shattered screens…beauty and elegance with a black eye….
quality product.
Only any good as an option if you want Android.
Are you sure? Shouldn't you be more mad at the hypocrisy at Apple's situation. If they don't change the design, people bash them for it, but just look at Samsung's J series. I can't even tell them apart from the rest and yet everyone LOVES them
This is a little bias, there is no talk about using 3 years old design.
If this is not iPhone then another CON from reviewers – Boring and uninspired design, like HTC suffer from it.
Then why don't bring out iPhone 6 and 6 Plus with bigger stretching iPhone 5S design if people like it soooooo much.
Design does get old, even something is nice people still want to feel new by re-design and improve it.
If the way you describe is correct, we would have an 3.0L S55 I6 Twin Turbo Engine on BMW Series3 E21. There still some people appreciate that classic design so why change it?
except for you know…..all the things people are complaining about….
get out of the A-hole bennie.
I don't know about tried & true but it is a favoured design by myself, one of the reasons on top of the 6's size that put me off the 6 was the curved edge to the device, and the raised screen…. Apple incorperating 'most' of a 6S into the 5S shell and also cramming a wee bit more battery power in is welcomed upgrade, I'm glad they didn't kill off the small smart phone
Nice phone as i had a "5". I now have a 6s+ which is too big. So when i change phones I'm going back to a smaller phone. Oh and I'm not buying anymore new phones, I'm going to buy 2 or 3 year old phones.
The difference between the 5S and SE will be massive.
Anyway, you are all going to put a horrible case on it. Stick to power and size
They didn't even upgrade the screen!
But does the Sony run iOS?
The point of this phone is to take an old, tried and tested design, including the 4 inch form factor, future proofing the internals and making it so that people who still have their iPhone 5S from 3 years ago who didn't want to upgrade due to no funds or the fact that 5 inch phones don't appeal to them can transition over without too much hassle.
Apple aren't even marketing that the design is new. They admit that they're design is old on their own site.
The phone is marketed for its form factor. That's why it exists.
If Samsung released the S4-E with that S820 and 3GB RAM, with the same design, people would bash it too. People are bashing the iPhone. People bash other people. It's what they do. It doesn't necessarily mean that S4-E won't find a market (in fact, they probably will, seeing that it's a Samsung built phone with the small form factor some people are looking for).
The problem is that people complain too much about a product they probably won't buy. Do you like the product? If yes, good that you found one that suited you. You didn't like it? Don't buy it. Apple won't care, because they know that there are people who will buy this for whatever reason they need it for, be it form factor combined with operating system or maybe nostalgia from 3 years ago.
So true… Wasn't one of the negatives for the Galaxy S7 the fact it looked similar to the S6.. But this POS from Apple is a truly innovative masterpiece apparently
For me this is rubbish, would you buy a new car that looks exactly like the one it's replaced ? hardly anybody would, yes the new car maybe better in every way, but you still want your new toy to look newer, different to the last one, I was waiting for a 4 inch iPhone, I don't like the bigger screens, what Apple has done is terrible in my view.
It's got the new touch ID and 2GB of Ram