Should You Buy the iPhone SE 2020?
This is the new second-generation iPhone SE. I was actually gonna start this article by saying that I’m using the Oneplus 8 Pro at the moment and how dinky and cute the new SE looks next to that. But actually I had to pause writing because the mailman knocked on my door. Because the original SE (2016) original has just come from eBay which I bought a few days ago.
iPhone SE 2016 VS SE 2020
You can see actually compared to that this original SE just feels like almost like a kid’s toy or something and I think that’s one of the reasons why the new SE is going to sell by the truckload. Because the vast majority of my friends and people I talk to, they’re not spending a thousand on a new phone. They want something that’s affordable a reasonable size that they can use one-handed. You know is going to last them a few years and has a good camera and this checks all the boxes for this. But lined up, you can see the new SE is a little bit smaller than the iPhone 11 pro but still a good deal bigger than the original SE.
SE 2016 VS SE 2020
Display and Design
We’re looking at a 4.7-inch display and essentially we’re getting the body of an iPhone 8 but with vastly improved internals. So, we have a glass back that does support wireless charging. We’ve got an aluminum chassis around the edge, stereo speakers. It’s also IP 67 water resistance which means you can dunk this in up to a meter of water for half an hour.
SE’s single lens camera
There’s a single camera lens on the back which Apple is very cleverly saying is the best single camera on iPhone up to date. It comes in three colors black white and this product red which I think is my favorite color and a portion of the proceeds goes towards a covert relief charity.
When I first unboxed this my initial impression was everything feels so small. Because I’m using the OnePlus 8 Pro at the moment which is massive compared to this. But if you are using an older of 8 or 7 or 6 gen iPhone or even the original SE and this is gonna feel right at home for you actually. So with the SE obviously had the touch ID button.
These pretty chunky bezels were about as thick as my finger. and side by side with the iPhone 11 pro (which just cost two and a half times more it does) feel a little bit old-fashioned. But you could argue it’s a more classic iPhone look. Aside from the size, one thing you’ll notice is missing on the new SE is the headphone jack. This is something we got on the original one but it has disappeared here as you would expect really. Apple wants you to buy their Air pods, so yeah, that is something that we’ve lost.
iPhone 11 Class Hardware
So from the outside, it is a slightly refined iPhone 8 with absorb centralized Apple logo, a slightly different camera layout, but it’s what’s on the inside that counts. We’ve got Apple’s latest A13 Bionic chip that’s the same one that you’ll get in the iPhone 11 Pro max which costs about three times more. This is insane for a phone that costs $400 or 420 pounds and using it feels just like the iPhone 11 Pro. To be honest, it’s got the same 60 Hz refresh, it’s powered by the same A13 chip what does that really mean well you can burn or play any Apple game on this flawlessly. And you’ll be able to do that from probably several years to come. We get the latest software. This shipped with iOS 13.4.and it’s just lovely to use. I kind of forgot how much I appreciate using our phone one-handed. For detailed benchmark results, visit our review of this phone on our website.
Camera
It’s been a few years but aside from the price, I think what really makes the SE stand out is the camera. Apple on going into specifics about exactly which sensor it is using. But the 12-megapixel f/1.8 camera on the back again given the price is incredible. We can even shoot up to 4k 60 videos. So here are a few shots from the SE but I also wanted to compare it to the iPhone 11 Pro.
Just to see what we are missing out versus the higher-end iPhones. On the face of it, there isn’t a massive difference really they both use my HDR. You can use portrait mode on both and to be honest, even cropping in by three times there’s not really much in it. sometimes the SE, by comparison, is a little less detailed and maybe a tad noisier. but if you’re just posting these on Instagram I think most people will be hard-pressed to tell them apart. of course, we are missing out on the ultra-wide and the telephoto lens plus we don’t get any night mode on the SE 2020. This is a little bit disappointing. To see more detailed camera review of this phone visit our website.
Shooting video at 4k 30 on both the iPhone SE 2020 and the iPhone 11 Pro to see if there’s much difference actually they both seem to be focusing pretty much the same. but what about the front-facing video, the SE 2020 actually shoots at 1080p and the iPhone 11 Pro which I’ve got here goes up to 4k with the front camera. I’m not sure how often or how many people would actually use 4k obviously you do get bigger file sizes. However, then again it’s a higher-resolution and thus looks a little bit sharper. But handling the dynamic range of a very bright background then a slightly darker foreground and again just changing the lighting up a little bit, at least I don’t see a big difference between The SE 2020 and 11 Pro.
Battery Life
For battery life, I think I need to spend a little bit more time with it. In my experience so far, it’s good and a little bit less than the iPhone 11 pro. While it has a relatively tiny battery, smaller screen size, and a lower resolution and also the lower peak brightness which tops out at 625 nits, all helped it to mitigate. So you’ll still easily get a full day out of it but it’s not in the same league as say the iPhone 11 pro max.
Alternatives
This really is one of the best budget/sort of mid-range phones that you can buy. Yes, I do know that there were tons of really good Android alternatives for similar money or some of them are even less. You can get the Realme X2 pro, Xiaomi Mi Note 10, and of course the pixel 3a and hopefully also the pixel 4a coming soon which I can’t wait to put this again. So that’s gonna be I think the real competitor to this but the thing is while they’re all great phones and some of them offer better specs and some regards maybe full HD screens, maybe more RAM. However, the truth is I think most Android users probably upgrade their phones every two years or so. I bet with iPhones, it’s less often. I know a couple of people who still have the original SE in fact.
Should You Buy it?
Yes, I know that Apple was guilty of software updates slowing down all the phones so that their batteries didn’t explode and all that. So that is a concern but as a package with that A13 chip, the latest software, the really good camera and all for $400 or 420 pounds. I don’t think there’s a better value phone and I think this like the original SE for a lot of people will be their phone for the next three four maybe even five years. With those specs, I think it can easily last that long. Although to be fair no other phone in 2020 has bezel and a screen to body ratio like this. I appreciate it helped Apple make the SE 2020 cheaper and we can argue it’s a classic design but it does seem a little lazy from being honest. I mean we give Google and the pixel phones enough grief for their bezels and I think if the 4a launch looking like this, people would make a big deal about it. They’ve got the fundamentals right and for the vast majority of my friends who asked me pretty often what phones I should buy. If they want an iPhone, this is gonna be the one that I recommend.
Need More Information? See our in-depth iPhone SE 2020 Review.