Review iPhone SE in 2020
When looking for a new iPhone you might see that there are a lot of different models ranging from $399 to a whopping $1099! The one you can get for $399 is the iPhone SE. But is this the one to buy in 2020? I will tell you everything about it in Review for iPhone SE, so you can make your final decision!
The comeback of a beloved iPhone!
After the original iPhone SE from 2016, Apple introduced this new 2nd generation iPhone SE back in April of this year. With a new generation comes new specs and new hardware. This 2nd gen comes with a much better chip, better battery, larger screen, better camera, and many more upgrades where we will go over later in this post.
The iPhone SE isn't the iPhone for everyone, but in my opinion, it is the best budget iPhone ever!
When first looking at the iPhone SE some people might say it is just an iPhone 8. But don't overlook the two! The iPhone SE offers many upgrades comparing to the iPhone 8. The best thing that most people will notice is the lower price of just $399 at Apple. At many online retailers, you will find it even cheaper such as Amazon (affiliate). With the iPhone SE, you won’t get the latest design, but you will get a lot of power under the hood!
Contents
In this iPhone SE review, I am going to tell you everything about this budget iPhone from Apple. It will include Design, Camera, Hardware, Battery and who should buy this phone.
Design
Let's begin by looking at the design of the iPhone SE. As I told earlier at the beginning of this post, the iPhone SE almost looks the same as the iPhone 8 from 2017. But actually, there are some differences between the design of the iPhone 8 and this new iPhone SE.
- A Glass back with an aluminum frame
- 4.7-inch screen with the original home button
- Comes in black, white and red
As said by Apple itself, this 4.7-inch design is their most popular design ever. But this sounds logical as you know that Apple has been using this design since the iPhone 6 in 2014. Many people were waiting for a new small iPhone with the latest all-screen design and Face-ID. For those people, I’d suggest checking out the brand new iPhone 12 Mini (affiliate). But don't make a quick decision! This iPhone SE might be the one that fits you the best. If you consider that the price difference between the 12 Mini and this SE is around $300! That's almost double the price. Still, this 4.7-inch display is big enough for most people to chat, and use social media. For media consumption, one might say this screen is a bit too small. But many people might prefer to use an iPad for such tasks, so this screen is no problem for them.
The positive side of this smaller form factor is obviously that it fits better in your pocket! It is also easier to carry around if you want to put it in small pockets.
On the other side, it also depends on what phone you are coming from. Are you coming from a bigger iPhone such as an iPhone Plus series, this obviously feels small, but if that's what you want, a smaller phone, then this is a great buy for you.
Talking about the other aspects of the design. You will find an aluminum frame all around the phone, which looks clean and feel comfortable in your hand. Personally, I find this aluminum rail to be a bit slippery compared to the stainless steel frame from the newer phones, but probably you are going to put a case on your phone, so this is no problem.
When looking at the back we find a glass back, with a centered Apple logo. The same as the iPhone 11 and 12 series. This glass back makes it possible to use a wireless charger. This is a pretty convenient feature, but this will cost you another $30–40 if you are looking for a quality wireless charger.
The only downside of this design is the black bezels on the front of the display. While for some people this might not be a problem. For people who want a new design or have already been using an iPhone X or later, this feels very dated and might scare you off from buying this phone. Again if this is that pulls you back from getting this phone you should probably look into the new 12 Mini (affiliate).
Screen
Let continue the iPhone SE review with the screen. The iPhone SE comes with a 4.7-inch retina display, which looks sharp and supports the best color techniques such as P3. The screen also supports TrueTone.
- 4.7 Inch LCD-Screen
- Resolution of 1334 x 750
- 326 PPI
- TrueTone
There is not really much to say about the quality of this display. It is probably the best LCD-screen you can get on a smartphone. Sadly this isn't an OLED-screen like the more expensive models have. But for this price, I can complain about the quality. The resolution is 1334 x 750, which is HD-ready (not full-HD). For some people, this might sound like a terrible resolution. But using it in person, it doesn't look bad at all. This is because Apple always uses a Retina resolution, which means that individual pixels cant be seen.
For watching a lot of videos, I don’t really recommend this phone, because I think it is just too small for watching movies and a lot of youtube. For those users who do want to enjoy video on their phones, I suggest looking into a phone with a larger (OLED) display.
Hardware
This is where the iPhone SE separates itself the most from other competitor brands. The iPhone SE has the super-fast A13 Bionic-chip inside, which can also be found in the iPhone 11-Series! At this price point, this is absolutely the best performance you can get.
- A13 Bionic-chip
- Neural Engine (3rd gen)
- IP67 Rating
- Touch-ID (2nd gen)
- 64GB, 128GB or 256GB storage
While the design might not be the most modern in a smartphone, the specs are unbeaten at this price point. Apple uses the same A13 Bionic-chip from the iPhone 11-series, which is super, super fast. This doesn't just mean that you will get an amazing performance. This also means that you will get more years of software support. I expect this phone to receive the latest iOS versions till around 2025!
Games and other heavy tasks (video editing, photo editing) will also work great on this phone. It is amazing how much performance Apple has put into this small, budget iPhone for just $399.
You also don’t have to worry about dropping your phone in a pool. This phone has an IP67 rating, which means the phone can survive 30min of water exposure at a depth of 2m. The ‘6’ in IP67 stands for the dust resistance of the phone. For the iPhone, this means that dust won't get inside of the device.
Touch-ID is also a very great and reliable option. Especially in 2020 during the COVID-19 times, where we wear facemasks a lot. Touch-ID 2nd gen is still fast and reliable, but it doesn’t feel as seamless as Face-ID does in the latest iPhone, where you just look and it unlocks automatically. But at this price point, you really do get a great Touch-ID scanner.
If you are looking into buying this phone, you also want to store all your files on it. And don’t worry. This phone comes with 64GB, 128GB, or 256GB. While the base model of just 64GB might be a little scarce for some people, you can always pay a bit more and get the 128GB, model which in my opinion is the one to get if you plan to store a lot of games and photos/videos on your phone. It is also more future proof.
Other hardware to note the iPhone SE 2020 comes with are the support of wireless charging, a great camera (more on that later in this article), and great stereo speakers
Camera
Looking at the camera of the iPhone SE 2020, there isn't much difference between the iPhone 8 camera. This iPhone also comes with one single lens of 12mp. But this won't be an issue for people buying this iPhone at this price point.
- Single 12MP Camera on the back
- 7MP Front camera
- Portretmode (using software)
- Smart HDR
With just this single lens on the iPhone SE, your picture will still look amazing. For most people, the extra lenses on more expensive models are unnecessary. But just this single lens can put out great quality images better than previous models like the iPhone 8. This is due to software and chips improvements on this iPhone SE.
Comparing to an iPhone 11 Pro Max, the images look very close to each other in normal light conditions, but in low light, the iPhone SE doesn’t look good at all. This is where the 11 Pro Max with its night mode can perform better. So is shooting in the dark what you want to do? This iPhone is probably not right for you, because it is lacking support for night mode, which makes photos in the dark a lot better.
What the SE does support is Smart HDR. This is a technique found in the iPhone Xs and later. The chip combines light from many different images and combines them to the best possible image.
The iPhone also supports portrait mode on both lenses. The SE uses software to do so. This doesn’t look as good as phones using hardware ánd software for portrait mode, but it still is a nice feature to have on your phone.
Colors
There are not many colors to choose from in this iPhone SE. You can choose between the 3 colors space grey, silver and red! The red one is my personal favorite. A thing to note is that all colors come with a black bezel on the front. This used to be different depending on the color you chose.
Battery
Another important factor of a smartphone is of course the battery! You might wonder how this phone performs with its small form factor and small battery. The best phone to compare it to is the iPhone 8, which has around the same amount of on-screen time.
- 13 video playback
- Comes with 5w charger
- 1821 mah
The battery of this small iPhone SE isn't as amazing as the iPhone 11-series. But still, for this small form factor, I would say that the battery is OK. It doesn’t deliver any spectacular on-screen times. It stays at the same amount as the iPhone 8, which means around 13-hour video playback and 40-hour audio. I expected to see at least some improvement due to the new, more efficient A13 chipset, but sadly this difference is minor.
For power users, this phone is not the one to get. If you are a power user, you probably won’t reach the end of the day using this battery. For them, I would suggest to check out some of the more recent models on Amazon (affiliate)
The iPhone also still comes with the old 5watt charger, which for this small phone is fine, but in my opinion, they could have included something faster. But if you are already a user of wireless charging, this is amazing, because this phone also supports Qi wireless charging pads.
Who should get this iPhone?
So who should actually buy this iPhone? If you are not sure after reading the iPhone SE review, I hope this will help you out making the final decision.
In my opinion, this phone is best suited for people who want a small phone to carry around easily and don’t want to give up on performance.
Also if you are upgrading from an iPhone 6, 7, or 8. This ‘small’ form factor will feel very reliable to you. The increase in performance, support for wireless charging, and the better camera will make this phone the one to get for you.
If however, you want to make a bigger upgrade and go for an all-new design, you should look into one of the newer and more expensive models if that's your cup of tea.
For people who can afford a more expensive iPhone, I might recommend looking into other brands' smartphones, which have larger displays and have better batteries. But if you are going to buy another brand. You are going to give up on the amazing performance and 5 years of software updates.
Conclusion
So I hope this iPhone SE review gave you a good look at the phone and if this is the phone for you to buy or not.
If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments below!
Discloser:
Some of the links in this article are affiliate ones. I do receive a small commission for leading people to this link.
