The iPhone SE: A Revolutionary Upgrade with a Twist

One of the most significant upgrades in the latest iPhone SE is its camera system, which boasts a 12 megapixel sensor and a wide angle lens with an aperture of f/1.8. These specs are identical to those found on the 2020 iPhone SE and the iPhone 8, but the A15 Bionic chip introduces features that significantly enhance its capabilities. One notable feature is Smart HDR, which allows for more advanced processing and capturing of high-quality images. Additionally, the phone's deep fusion processor excels in low-light conditions, making it an excellent choice for those seeking improved image quality.

The camera system on the iPhone SE also offers advanced video recording capabilities, including 4K at 60 frames per second, a feature that sets it apart from other phones in its class. Furthermore, users can adjust photographic styles to achieve specific looks and moods, making it an attractive option for those seeking more creative control over their images.

However, like any camera system, the iPhone SE is not without its limitations. When viewed at close range, zoomed-in images appear soft and lackluster, almost resembling a painting. This characteristic may be frustrating for some users who require high-quality zoomed-in shots. Nevertheless, the camera's strengths more than make up for these minor drawbacks.

Comparing the iPhone SE to other phones in terms of photography capabilities reveals that it is comparable in quality to the Google Pixel 5A with 5G, but falls short when compared to its competitors' ultra-wide-angle cameras. The iPhone 12 Mini and Google Pixel 5A with 5G feature additional rear cameras that allow for ultra-wide shots, a feature not available on the iPhone SE.

In terms of image processing, the iPhone SE's photos exhibit darker shadows compared to its rivals. However, when it comes to contrast, the phone is more similar to the Google Pixel 5A with 5G. The camera system also shows improved performance in low-light conditions, making it a top contender for those seeking excellent image quality.

The front-facing camera on the iPhone SE features a 7 megapixel sensor, which, although sufficient for most users, may not be enough for more demanding applications. Additionally, its dynamic range is limited, and photos can easily become overexposed, especially when compared to the Google Pixel 5A with 5G.

Despite these limitations, the camera system on the iPhone SE remains an excellent choice for those seeking high-quality images. Its impressive performance in low-light conditions and advanced features like Smart HDR make it a compelling option for photographers.

Battery Life

One of the most notable upgrades in the latest iPhone SE is its battery life, which Apple claims will be 2 hours longer than that of the 2020 model. In our testing, we found that the phone's battery lasts around 20-22 hours on a single charge, making it an excellent choice for those seeking a device with long-lasting power.

To further assess the iPhone SE's battery performance, we conducted various tests, including extended gaming sessions and video playback. The results were overwhelmingly positive, with the phone's battery showing remarkable endurance in demanding situations.

Conclusion

The latest iPhone SE is a revolutionary upgrade that redefines what it means to own an Apple device. With its exceptional camera system, impressive battery life, and sleek design, this phone is an excellent choice for those seeking a premium smartphone experience without breaking the bank.

With a starting price of $429, the iPhone SE offers unparalleled value for money, making it an attractive option for those who want to join the Apple ecosystem but are hesitant due to budget constraints. Although some may find the camera's limitations when viewed at close range, its strengths far outweigh these minor drawbacks.

For those considering purchasing the iPhone SE, we recommend upgrading to the 128GB model if you plan to keep your device for an extended period. The additional storage provides peace of mind and ensures that you won't need to worry about running out of space anytime soon.

Ultimately, the iPhone SE is a top-notch smartphone that offers exceptional performance, impressive camera capabilities, and sleek design at an unbeatable price. If you're in the market for a new phone, we highly recommend considering this device as a top contender.

In conclusion, we hope our review has provided you with a comprehensive understanding of what to expect from the iPhone SE. Whether you're a seasoned Apple fan or simply looking for a reliable smartphone experience, this device is sure to impress.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is the new iphone se there's a little bit old and a little bit new and that's perhaps the biggest appeal the original iphone se came out in 2016 and back then the letters se stood for special edition i think in 2022 those letters should be changed and they should mean same edition i know that's not a dig but it's just because the brand new iphone se looks identical to the previous one and that's kind of the idea the new iphone se is meant to be a low-cost way for people with an iphone 8 or older to upgrade without changing what they're used to and for a lot of people getting a new phone without having to learn a new way to use it or just having it work with their existing accessories is an enormous appeal like the previous two versions the new iphone se hits three main let's call them iphone se decrees and the first sc decree is that the iphone se should be cheap and at 429 is apple's most affordable iphone meaning you can get an extremely capable phone that gives you a great camera and all the apple goodies like imessage facetime apple music and access to apple's app store the next decree is that the iphone se should be small and the new sc is one of the smallest phones you can currently buy and the last se decree is that the iphone se should have a classic look everything about this new phone has that classic iphone design language there are large bezels above and below the screen it has a home button with touch id instead of face id so if you're upgrading from an iphone 6s 7 or 8 this phone will be nearly identical in terms of its design and build but it's not identical the iphone sc has the same body as an iphone 8 but the glass on the front and back is more durable in fact it's the same glass used on the back of the iphone 13. the finish on the review unit that i've been testing is called midnight in some lighting it looks jet black in other lighting it has an indigo blue hue the glossy glass back and curved sides make this phone feel a little slippery and while i didn't do any drop tests there were a couple times where i was photographing the phone or shooting a video of it and it tipped over and fell off a standing desk but luckily there weren't any scratches or damage and let's also keep in mind that in 2022 this design isn't cutting edge they're going to be people who are turned off by it but for others this familiar tried and true design will be a huge appeal all of the other major changes to the iphone se take place on the inside there's support for 5g a bigger battery and perhaps the biggest addition the new iphone se has the a15 bionic chip that's the same one in the iphone 13 that's the same one outperforms pretty much any other phone you can currently buy now i've been trying to come up with an analogy for the sc and i think i have this iphone sc reminds me of this car company called z electric and they take vintage volkswagen beetles replace the old engine and put a brand new electrical motor in in a sense the vw becomes an entirely different car and a very fast one at that but at the same time it's the same old vintage vw that people love and that's exactly what's going on here with the se in terms of the apps in terms of the features it's on par with iphones that are nearly twice the price but you get all that in a body that a bunch of people are already comfortable using and that only costs 429 no other phone maker takes this approach to make a low-cost phone it would be like samson taking the body of the galaxy s8 and putting in the processing power of the galaxy s22 inside i mean can you imagine that actually kind of cool but the real question is does this approach work hell yes it does i'm playing apple arcade games on the sc i'm filming 4k videos i'm even able to use ios 15 tools like live text capture and live text with translation and look i know i know you're probably wondering what's the catch look any new phone sold under 500 is going to have compromises but it speaks volumes to how savvy apple was at omitting some things in order to keep others for example the iphone 13 family has a rating for dust and water resistance as ip68 the iphone se is rated ip67 for water and dust resistance but that still means it can survive being submerged under a meter of water for 30 minutes the se supports she wireless charging but it doesn't have magsafe charging the sc also supports 20 watt wired fast charging but doesn't come with the required power brick to take advantage of it it even has nfc for apple pay and look can i just say how after using mainly face id iphones that it is such a joy to use apple pay by doing nothing more than laying my thumb on the home button oh i forgot how much i like the home button and touch id touch id and then there's the display at 4.7 inches it's the smallest display on any iphone it does have true tone which adjusts the color temperature of the screen depending on the lighting it's under and for all intensive purposes though it's the same lcd that was on the 2020 iphone se and the 2017 iphone 8. at this price this display is good ish for a little bit more money there's the google pixel 5a with 5g or the samsung galaxy a52 5g which both have higher resolution screens in use the iphone se screen was good but i did have two gripes with it first i wish the screen was brighter and second there's a large space above and below the screen that makes the display feel small now if you're coming from an older iphone like a iphone 7 or an iphone 8 i don't think this is going to be much of an issue but switching between my iphone 12 mini to the sc i missed having that new oled now keep in mind the iphone se costs 429 and the iphone 12 mini i have cost 300 more when it was new and yeah that was before any discounts let's talk about the cameras apple avoids one of my biggest pet peeves you see many android budget phones think they're adding a bunch of value by having two or three rear cameras on the back of the phone even if those cameras aren't very good hey more is better right well as i've said in previous reviews i'd much rather have one good rear camera or in the case of the iphone se one great camera rather than a bunch of mediocre ones the camera on the back of the iphone se has a 12 megapixel sensor and a wide angle lens with an aperture of f 1.8 these are the same specs as the camera on the iphone 8 and the 2020 iphone se but that a15 bionic chip changes how this phone captures photos and videos it adds features like smart hdr for processing deep fusion processing for medium to low light photos and get this you can record 4k 60 frames per second video on an iphone se there are also photographic styles which let you adjust the way your phone captures a scene so it's more to your liking now these aren't filters but if you want your photos to have a warmer look or more vibrant colors you simply change the style and that a15 chip does the rest to make it look the best anytime you take a photo here are some of my favorite photos and videos that i took with the iphone se the etsy's camera is not without faults zoomed in images look rough here's a photo i took at sunset that was all the way zoomed in it's very soft it almost looks like a painting but how does the iphone se compare to other phones in terms of photos and videos well i took some photos with the iphone se as well as with my iphone 12 mini and with a google pixel 5a with 5g now obviously the mini and the 5a both have an additional rear camera that lets you take ultra wide photos also both of those phones have night mode for capturing photos in dimly lit places which the se lacks overall aside from color temperature photos from the three phones are on par here are photos of mission high school that i took with each phone the photo from the se has darker shadows especially look at the palm trees there but in terms of contrast the se is similar to the pixel in these photos that i took of a band the sun was going down the ses photo again has the darker shadows and photos from the sc and pixel have the most noise reduction i also took photos of bread at tartine bakery the first difference i see between the three phones is how warm the iphone's photos are and how cool the pixels photo is also notice how contrasty the pixels photo is on the front of the sc is a seven megapixel selfie camera it gets a boost from that a15 chip too but i can definitely see the limits the dynamic range isn't great i mean for example take a look at this selfie and how the se blew out the sky behind me to white compare that to selfies i took with the iphone 12 mini and the google pixel 5a with 5g in terms of 5g my carrier is google 5 which doesn't have 5g coverage where i tested the phone but keep an eye out for my written review on cnet and i'll make sure to update it with my experience using the sc on 5g once i can that said calls on the iphone se over 4g lte were good and sounded clear then there's the battery life now apple claims the new iphone se will get two more hours of battery life than the 2020 version in the four days i've had the phone the ses made it through a day on a single charge no problem to give you an idea most of the time the battery's around 20 when i go to bed now look i'm gonna run a bunch of battery tests on the se and i'll update my written review with those results but the takeaway here is the battery life on the new se does feel longer it is still pretty average but that's fine so i have some final thoughts first the iphone se is your cheapest edition ticket to apple's ecosystem and at 429 i think the iphone se is worth the price and is an incredible value for what you get but in 2022 i need to acknowledge that many people have been experiencing financial hardships over the past two years and that inflation keeps going up i wish apple had an iphone offering that was under 400 or even under 300 if you're considering an iphone se the 429 model comes with 64 gigabytes of storage if you can stretch your budget and spend 50 dollars more it's worth upgrading to the 128 gigabyte version especially if you plan to keep your iphone sc for more than a couple of years and that's all i've got if you're interested in getting an iphone se or learning more about it check out the links in the description also we're going to have more stories and videos coming out about the sc so make sure to check out cnet and our youtube channel last i want to hear from you what do you think about the sc were you hoping for more are you happy with the classic design throw your thoughts in the commentsthis is the new iphone se there's a little bit old and a little bit new and that's perhaps the biggest appeal the original iphone se came out in 2016 and back then the letters se stood for special edition i think in 2022 those letters should be changed and they should mean same edition i know that's not a dig but it's just because the brand new iphone se looks identical to the previous one and that's kind of the idea the new iphone se is meant to be a low-cost way for people with an iphone 8 or older to upgrade without changing what they're used to and for a lot of people getting a new phone without having to learn a new way to use it or just having it work with their existing accessories is an enormous appeal like the previous two versions the new iphone se hits three main let's call them iphone se decrees and the first sc decree is that the iphone se should be cheap and at 429 is apple's most affordable iphone meaning you can get an extremely capable phone that gives you a great camera and all the apple goodies like imessage facetime apple music and access to apple's app store the next decree is that the iphone se should be small and the new sc is one of the smallest phones you can currently buy and the last se decree is that the iphone se should have a classic look everything about this new phone has that classic iphone design language there are large bezels above and below the screen it has a home button with touch id instead of face id so if you're upgrading from an iphone 6s 7 or 8 this phone will be nearly identical in terms of its design and build but it's not identical the iphone sc has the same body as an iphone 8 but the glass on the front and back is more durable in fact it's the same glass used on the back of the iphone 13. the finish on the review unit that i've been testing is called midnight in some lighting it looks jet black in other lighting it has an indigo blue hue the glossy glass back and curved sides make this phone feel a little slippery and while i didn't do any drop tests there were a couple times where i was photographing the phone or shooting a video of it and it tipped over and fell off a standing desk but luckily there weren't any scratches or damage and let's also keep in mind that in 2022 this design isn't cutting edge they're going to be people who are turned off by it but for others this familiar tried and true design will be a huge appeal all of the other major changes to the iphone se take place on the inside there's support for 5g a bigger battery and perhaps the biggest addition the new iphone se has the a15 bionic chip that's the same one in the iphone 13 that's the same one outperforms pretty much any other phone you can currently buy now i've been trying to come up with an analogy for the sc and i think i have this iphone sc reminds me of this car company called z electric and they take vintage volkswagen beetles replace the old engine and put a brand new electrical motor in in a sense the vw becomes an entirely different car and a very fast one at that but at the same time it's the same old vintage vw that people love and that's exactly what's going on here with the se in terms of the apps in terms of the features it's on par with iphones that are nearly twice the price but you get all that in a body that a bunch of people are already comfortable using and that only costs 429 no other phone maker takes this approach to make a low-cost phone it would be like samson taking the body of the galaxy s8 and putting in the processing power of the galaxy s22 inside i mean can you imagine that actually kind of cool but the real question is does this approach work hell yes it does i'm playing apple arcade games on the sc i'm filming 4k videos i'm even able to use ios 15 tools like live text capture and live text with translation and look i know i know you're probably wondering what's the catch look any new phone sold under 500 is going to have compromises but it speaks volumes to how savvy apple was at omitting some things in order to keep others for example the iphone 13 family has a rating for dust and water resistance as ip68 the iphone se is rated ip67 for water and dust resistance but that still means it can survive being submerged under a meter of water for 30 minutes the se supports she wireless charging but it doesn't have magsafe charging the sc also supports 20 watt wired fast charging but doesn't come with the required power brick to take advantage of it it even has nfc for apple pay and look can i just say how after using mainly face id iphones that it is such a joy to use apple pay by doing nothing more than laying my thumb on the home button oh i forgot how much i like the home button and touch id touch id and then there's the display at 4.7 inches it's the smallest display on any iphone it does have true tone which adjusts the color temperature of the screen depending on the lighting it's under and for all intensive purposes though it's the same lcd that was on the 2020 iphone se and the 2017 iphone 8. at this price this display is good ish for a little bit more money there's the google pixel 5a with 5g or the samsung galaxy a52 5g which both have higher resolution screens in use the iphone se screen was good but i did have two gripes with it first i wish the screen was brighter and second there's a large space above and below the screen that makes the display feel small now if you're coming from an older iphone like a iphone 7 or an iphone 8 i don't think this is going to be much of an issue but switching between my iphone 12 mini to the sc i missed having that new oled now keep in mind the iphone se costs 429 and the iphone 12 mini i have cost 300 more when it was new and yeah that was before any discounts let's talk about the cameras apple avoids one of my biggest pet peeves you see many android budget phones think they're adding a bunch of value by having two or three rear cameras on the back of the phone even if those cameras aren't very good hey more is better right well as i've said in previous reviews i'd much rather have one good rear camera or in the case of the iphone se one great camera rather than a bunch of mediocre ones the camera on the back of the iphone se has a 12 megapixel sensor and a wide angle lens with an aperture of f 1.8 these are the same specs as the camera on the iphone 8 and the 2020 iphone se but that a15 bionic chip changes how this phone captures photos and videos it adds features like smart hdr for processing deep fusion processing for medium to low light photos and get this you can record 4k 60 frames per second video on an iphone se there are also photographic styles which let you adjust the way your phone captures a scene so it's more to your liking now these aren't filters but if you want your photos to have a warmer look or more vibrant colors you simply change the style and that a15 chip does the rest to make it look the best anytime you take a photo here are some of my favorite photos and videos that i took with the iphone se the etsy's camera is not without faults zoomed in images look rough here's a photo i took at sunset that was all the way zoomed in it's very soft it almost looks like a painting but how does the iphone se compare to other phones in terms of photos and videos well i took some photos with the iphone se as well as with my iphone 12 mini and with a google pixel 5a with 5g now obviously the mini and the 5a both have an additional rear camera that lets you take ultra wide photos also both of those phones have night mode for capturing photos in dimly lit places which the se lacks overall aside from color temperature photos from the three phones are on par here are photos of mission high school that i took with each phone the photo from the se has darker shadows especially look at the palm trees there but in terms of contrast the se is similar to the pixel in these photos that i took of a band the sun was going down the ses photo again has the darker shadows and photos from the sc and pixel have the most noise reduction i also took photos of bread at tartine bakery the first difference i see between the three phones is how warm the iphone's photos are and how cool the pixels photo is also notice how contrasty the pixels photo is on the front of the sc is a seven megapixel selfie camera it gets a boost from that a15 chip too but i can definitely see the limits the dynamic range isn't great i mean for example take a look at this selfie and how the se blew out the sky behind me to white compare that to selfies i took with the iphone 12 mini and the google pixel 5a with 5g in terms of 5g my carrier is google 5 which doesn't have 5g coverage where i tested the phone but keep an eye out for my written review on cnet and i'll make sure to update it with my experience using the sc on 5g once i can that said calls on the iphone se over 4g lte were good and sounded clear then there's the battery life now apple claims the new iphone se will get two more hours of battery life than the 2020 version in the four days i've had the phone the ses made it through a day on a single charge no problem to give you an idea most of the time the battery's around 20 when i go to bed now look i'm gonna run a bunch of battery tests on the se and i'll update my written review with those results but the takeaway here is the battery life on the new se does feel longer it is still pretty average but that's fine so i have some final thoughts first the iphone se is your cheapest edition ticket to apple's ecosystem and at 429 i think the iphone se is worth the price and is an incredible value for what you get but in 2022 i need to acknowledge that many people have been experiencing financial hardships over the past two years and that inflation keeps going up i wish apple had an iphone offering that was under 400 or even under 300 if you're considering an iphone se the 429 model comes with 64 gigabytes of storage if you can stretch your budget and spend 50 dollars more it's worth upgrading to the 128 gigabyte version especially if you plan to keep your iphone sc for more than a couple of years and that's all i've got if you're interested in getting an iphone se or learning more about it check out the links in the description also we're going to have more stories and videos coming out about the sc so make sure to check out cnet and our youtube channel last i want to hear from you what do you think about the sc were you hoping for more are you happy with the classic design throw your thoughts in the comments\n"