Apple had a problem. Over the year 2015, they sold 30 million iPhone 5S phones. That’s not the problem. Moving forward for new software and services, the 5S was aging out of the market quickly, and likely wouldn’t have fared well if pushed into a third year of service. A strategy of using older phones to cover lower price tiers left Apple without an entry level option, and forced Apple to make its first purposely mid-range phone since the disaster which was the iPhone 5C. The iPhone SE is Apple’s new mid-range solution, so let’s see if it’s the right fit for you.

Video Review

Hardware

Can a phone be “retro”? At some point a retro device needs to have been discontinued for it to become desirable again right? The iPhone SE is a mashup of the iPhone 5S body and the A9 processor from the iPhone 6S. This isn’t a situation like how the Galaxy S7 looks kind of like the Galaxy S6, but those two phones can’t share cases. If you have accessories or cases for the 5S, they’ll fit the SE like a glove. This phone design is now entering its fourth year of service with only minor iteration from the first widescreen iPhone 5.

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Yet, if Apple had to continue recycling any phone build, they could do far worse than the metal and glass combination found here. It’s a sharp, simple, modern look for a phone. The mostly aluminum body avoids the fingerprint smudges found on mostly glass phones like the 4S or newer Galaxies, while the glass panels minimize the amount of “inspiration” we might find from HTC style antenna bands. Flat rectangular sides, circular volume buttons, rounded corners, and chamfered edges. It’s an iconic iPhone look.

This design might be “retro” to some and a “retread” to others, but the internals are a delightful refresh. The SE is powered by the same A9 processor as the flagship iPhone 6S with 2GB of RAM on tap. Our review unit is the 16GB base model, and that comes with the same 12MP camera capable of UHD video and 240fps slow motion footage.

The wide Retina display from the iPhone 5 continues on in the SE. It’s a capable IPS LCD with a not-quite-HD resolution of 1136 x 640. This resolution won’t win any awards in the year 2016, but happily we keep the same pixel density as that found on the iPhone 6S. Text and fine detail will look similar, there’s just less surface area. We’ve got respectable viewing angles, and very good outdoor brightness when compared to other LCDs, though this screen won’t get as bright in daylight, nor will it get as dim at night, as a Samsung AMOLED screen.

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With the camera and the processor being the same, one might be inclined to consider the SE a flagship, but Apple has held other technologies from this mighty mouse mid-ranger. We have a whole separate video detailing all of the differences below, but here’s the short list:

  • No MIMO antennas for robust WiFi performance
  • No support for LTE Advanced
  • No 3D Touch or Taptic Engine notifications
  • No 128GB top tier storage option
  • Low resolution front Facetime camera
  • Older (slower) Touch ID fingerprint sensor

Even with those flagship phone compromises, the SE represents a solid hardware spread for the lower starting price.

Software

Something interesting happens with iOS when we return to a four inch screen. This operating system was built around the idea of a smaller screen. We all remember the commercials extolling the virtues of a one-thumb phone screen. Now having moved up to a 4.7” display on the 6S and a 5.5” display on the 6S Plus, it’s difficult to see any ergonomic adjustments made to iOS to account for that change in size. Even for people with tiny hobbit hands (like this reviewer) there’s no point on the iPhone SE which can’t be reached while using the phone one handed. Even top corner mounted controls, like the back button in the mail app, are easily reached without dancing the phone around in the hand.

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This powerful hardware, in a smaller form factor, brings us back to an iPhone which excels at tactically brief interactions.

iOS is the same beast as it ever was. “Touch square, get app” is one of the easiest methods for interacting with a mobile device, though we still lack any customization options more advanced than changing the wallpaper. It’s familiar, it’s simple out of the box, and it gets to the point of each interaction quickly.

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Of course we still have many of the same complaints regarding this ecosystem. File management is still more restrictive than what we find on Android, and moving some files around can still require the use of another computer and iTunes. iOS still doesn’t have much flexibility for changing the default apps for people that prefer other options over Apple’s core services.

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New for iOS 9.3, the Night Shift feature should help people who use their phones a lot at night. Changing the color temperature of the screen as it gets darker. Warmer light should interfere less with your body’s sleep rhythms.

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Performance

The SE is snappy. No doubt about it. The faster processor paired with a lower resolution screen means you will rarely be kept waiting for apps or services to load. Menus, home-screens, and animations slide fluidly. iPhones have a reputations for slick performance, and the SE continues that reputation with distinction.

This extends to gaming as well. The SE absolutely chews up casual games, like jewel swap or Candy Crush style titles. Stepping up to more graphics intensive apps like Asphalt 8 and Marvel Future Fight, the SE is easily able to maintain a fluid frame rate, competing even with phones like the recently reviewed Galaxy S7.

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The drawback for multimedia, of course, is the smaller screen. The more in-depth the game play is, the smaller those controls get. Even with my tiny hands, hitting some menu options in Future Fight is nearly impossible to do consistently. I honestly didn’t bother with genres like tower defense, for the fine level of control and interaction required.

Camera

When Apple said the SE had the same camera as on the 6S, they weren’t joking. This is the same hardware we find on Cupertino’s flagship phone. This is well traveled territory, so we won’t be diving in as deep as we have on other phones, but the pros and cons remain the same.

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This one third inch sensor won’t deliver the softer depth of field or low light capabilities of phones like the Galaxy S7. While we see improvements to the sensor, the speed and accuracy of the focusing system can’t quite compete with LG and Samsung solutions.

This camera app could also use a makeover. There’s a separate mode to shoot a square image, but no option in the app to shoot a widescreen photo which could use the whole phone screen. Menu options are moving targets instead of toggling in place. With high quality hardware, it’s disappointing to see no native solution for saving RAW photos, and controlling some options, like changing the video resolution, require you to completely leave the camera app and head into the phone settings.

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This camera does deliver crisp images and very high quality video at both 1080/60p and 2160/30p resolutions. Slow motion video is best in class. HDR compositing is excellent. Apple delivers fantastically consistent image processing, though we often see white balance push a bit colder than necessary in outdoor shadowed shots. Lastly, Living Images can be a fun feature to help save extra memories, but folks on the 16GB model might want to disable that to save a little storage space.

To see how this camera stacks up to the competition, we have an in-depth comparison between the iPhone 6S, Lumia 950, and Galaxy S7 linked below.