The iPhone SE Review
by Brandon Chester on May 16, 2016 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Apple
- Mobile
- iPhone
- iPhone SE
Final Words
It’s really not difficult to come to a conclusion on the iPhone SE. It’s clearly the best 4-inch smartphone on the market, and you can ignore all of the specs when making that assessment because it achieves that by virtue of being the only offering at this size. For the sake of comparison, you can take a look at some Android devices that are larger than the SE, but smaller than your average Android smartphone.
As I said earlier in the review, Android manufacturers have essentially given up on making small smartphones, and most of them haven’t actually made a top tier smartphone at the 4-inch size in about four years. By 2012 things had moved to 4.5 inches or more, with Samsung also introducing the original 5.3-inch Galaxy Note near the end of 2011. Today’s idea of a compact Android phone is something like the Xperia Z5 compact, where the screen has a size of 4.6 inches, which is just a bit smaller than the screen on the iPhone 6s. Getting an even smaller screen means moving to truly low end smartphones like the Moto E, and at that point you’re discussing two entirely different parts of the market.
Even when you consider the smallest high-end devices from the Android manufacturers, it’s not hard to see that the iPhone SE comes out on top. Apple’s A9 SoC is still one of the fastest chips you’ll find in a smartphone, and it goes without saying that the Snapdragon 810 SoC in a smartphone like the Xperia Z5 Compact really isn’t comparable in the slightest. Based on my experience, the camera is also unmatched at this size and price. It’s certainly a step behind the best Android phones and the iPhone 6s Plus, but bringing the sensor from the iPhone 6s to the SE allows for some really great photos, and the best 4K recording video you’ll get on a phone.
The 4-inch IPS display on the iPhone SE has great calibration, and in general the resolution is sufficient to avoid aliasing, although it’s obviously not as sharp as what you’ll get on many Android smartphones. My main complaint about the display is the low contrast ratio and high black level, which is definitely noticeable in real-world use when you compare to more modern LCD displays or any AMOLED panel. Apple definitely intends to keep this phone around for at least a couple of years, if not three, and it’s not going to take remotely that long for the SE’s display to fall quite a few steps behind the market. As far as future-proofing goes, the display is probably the iPhone SE’s one weak spot, although right now it’s still a nice IPS display.
Finally, we have the design of the phone. It’s really unchanged from the iPhone 5s, and some may consider that a bad thing, but I think it’s a good thing. The design still holds up, and there’s absolutely no reason to arbitrarily redesign a product every cycle. The products that are used as examples of good design are often ones that have kept the same design for many years, and in some cases many decades. I can definitely understand those who wanted a device that was more like a small iPhone 6s, but for me the aesthetics of the iPhone 5 era design come out ahead.
Ultimately, the iPhone SE is the upgrade that Apple’s 4-inch iPhone has needed for a while. Considering that it’s been over two years, it’d be hard to not improve, but the fact that you get the same performance, camera, and display calibration as the iPhone 6s is quite appealing when the phone costs $250 less. Battery life is better or worse than the 6s depending on the situation, but it’s definitely improved overall from the 5s. Faster LTE and much faster WiFi are nice improvements too, and you also have Apple Pay thrown in. There’s not much more than Apple could have included without further cutting into their margins and making it really hard to explain why the 6s is significantly more expensive. Even with the things you lose out on, I still find myself asking whether the 6s is truly worth that $250 premium.
While I’ve used the iPhone SE as my daily driver for a month, I expect that I’ll be going back to the Nexus 5X and iPhone 6s. The smaller display is just not for me, but when Apple can sell thirty million two-year-old 4-inch smartphones in a year there’s clearly demand for a smaller smartphone with high end specs. The iPhone SE delivers that, and I think users who have been holding on to an iPhone 5 or 5s should seriously consider it, because it’s the phone that they’ve been waiting for.
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lucianmarin - Wednesday, May 18, 2016 - link
I had the SE for 6 days. It bricked after taking a photo. I was lucky the retailer accepted my return.Don’t buy this device. It’s the worst iPhone ever. The buttons on the sides make noises when you touch the screen, same for the camera lenses. I will use my iPhone 4S until it brakes… Steve Jobs is really dead. Apple as we knew it is dead.
darwiniandude - Wednesday, May 18, 2016 - link
What?Apple has the best warranty support in the industry, bar none. How are you lucky they accepted your return? Apple offers 14 day no questions asked money back. With a faulty device, you could have the whole thing replaced on the spot via mail in or Apple Store anywhere on the globe. I've handled a bunch of these so far, no issues with buttons or noises, the camera lens is fixed. Something was clearly not right with your device.
Apple has very high physical build quality, fit and finish and the SE is no exception. Read any reviews.
Your 4S is commendable for still being able to run the current software, but it is thick, heavy, unbelievably slow compared to modern devices. Horrible camera. The ancient and fragile dock non reversible dock connector. Keep using it by all means, but the 5s was over twice as fast as the 4s. The SE is more than twice as fast again. Absolutely no comparison. And compare the camera.
Sorry, I just don't get this comment. You obviously got a rare dud.
osxandwindows - Wednesday, May 18, 2016 - link
Dude, you had a faulty device.Some people don't think sometimes.
Spunjji - Thursday, May 19, 2016 - link
"I still find myself asking whether the 6s is truly worth that $250 premium."It's good to see Apple finally releasing a device with a vaguely realistic price point. No way the 6s is worth that much more!
yhselp - Thursday, May 19, 2016 - link
It's the phone I've been waiting for except it doesn't have 3D Touch, and it doesn't have fast Touch ID. I am willing to pay the $250 premium for those two features alone. I hate it that Apple decided to go the budget route with their very late, and only, new small iPhone. It feels like a second-class citizen, an afterthought aimed at earning a quick buck in an overlooked market. I want a premium, feature-rich small iPhone, not this. They just can't kill two birds with one stone that way.There's no need for an iPhone 6 mini design, but they could surely tweak the screen size. They could make it just a tad bigger, while keeping the footprint largely unchanged. It could be a little shorter, and a little wider. Why does a small phone need to sport such a wide aspect ratio? Why should any phone that is not strictly made for media consumption? It's unpractical. The tablet market reflects this nicely and offers wonderful aspect ratios. Apple don't even put 16:9 screens in their premium laptops. The 16:9 choice for smartphones has always baffled me.
The real issue with the 4-inch screen size is that iOS 9 just isn't designed with that size in mind. Many native apps feel cramped, where that wasn't the case before. The fact that Apple launched a new 4-inch iPhone and did nothing to amend this in iOS speaks volumes about their commitment, or lack thereof, to the 4-inch form factor.
All things that should have been addressed in the article - things that I'm pretty certain Anand himself would have payed attention to. These Android points throughout the whole article coupled with the facts-of-life, borderline spiritual 'getting used to life and the joys of breathing sunshine' part about the 4-inch form factor, and the reviewer's touching coming of age story about phone screen sized feels a tiny bit subjective, and largely unnecessary. To review a product one needs to be intimately familiar with the platform going back years. That goes for any platform. I wouldn't like to read an Android review by a person that has mostly used iPhones throughout the years. I wouldn't like to read a phablet review by someone that doesn't like the form factor either. The fact that the reviewer thinks that the single hand usability is the primary, if not only, benefit of a smaller screen phone is enough proof that they aren't the right person to review such a device.
Anyway, I can't begin to express how much I hope that Apple would truly decide to pay attention to and innovate in the small form factor platform and produce a new, revolutionary small iPhone. I'm not going to say it, but you-know-who might have done you-know-what differently.
tom5 - Thursday, May 19, 2016 - link
Where's the HTC 10 review Part 2?Meteor2 - Thursday, May 19, 2016 - link
Tbh by the time the 2016 reviews are published here, people will have read all they want elsewhere so the articles won't get many views, and Anandtech won't get much ad revenue :(.beck2050 - Friday, May 20, 2016 - link
Weak screen is deal breaker. Much better options in that price range.jkhoward - Friday, May 20, 2016 - link
Anyone want to trade? I have a 6S Plus and I am looking to get this phone... Won't charge anymore, just want the trade... Currently on T-Mobile.DiegoLinden - Sunday, May 22, 2016 - link
Nice review, i still using a Iphone 4 that is 3.5' inch , i dont really like android system and they big screen, but was thinking about get a ~4.7inch(because my i4 is rly slow after the last update available) and now i think i go to this iphone xDthanks!