**The iPhone SE: A Budget Phone with Surprising Capabilities**
As I sat down to compare the cameras on the iPhone SE to those on the iPhone 11, I thought it would be helpful to look at them side by side. The cameras on both phones are similar in terms of hardware, but they have some significant differences in terms of functionality and image quality.
**The Camera Shootout**
So, let's take a closer look at the cameras on each phone. The rear camera on the iPhone SE has a 28-millimeter lens with an F/1.8 aperture, while the main camera on the back of the iPhone 11 has a 26-millimeter lens with an F/1.8 aperture, and the ultra-wide-angle camera has a 13-millimeter lens with an F/2.4 aperture. I have to say, I really like the ultra-wide-angle camera on the 11, but I didn't miss it on the iPhone SE.
Good light photos from both phones are very similar in terms of image quality. Take a look at these pictures of a tree I took at my backyard - you'll be hard-pressed to tell which phone took which picture. The iPhone SE photo is framed ever so slightly tighter due to that 28-millimeter lens compared to the iPhone 11's 26-millimeter lens.
However, there are some differences in certain situations. Here are a few other photos where things again are pretty much identical. Both phones have portrait mode and produce excellent results - the iPhone 11 can do portrait mode photos of people and pets, while the iPhone SE can only do portraits of people. The photos look very close, but the iPhone 11's portrait mode captures just a bit more detail and less noise.
Let's take a closer look at my skin in these photos. If you zoom in and look at my skin, you'll notice that the iPhone 11 photo has a dusting more detail and less noise than the iPhone SE photo. Look closely at my shoulder in these photos - you'll see that the fall-off between in-focus and out-of-focus areas is a little more naturally rendered in the iPhone 11.
In terms of image quality indoors, the difference is not huge, but the iPhone 11 does have an edge. Take a look at this shot of my bike trainer taken indoors in medium light - the most obvious difference is the framing again is tighter on the iPhone SE than the iPhone 11. However, in terms of image quality, the iPhone 11 has a pinch more detail.
The same applies for video - it's nearly impossible to see the difference in terms of image quality between both phones. Both phones can compute 4K at 60 frames per second and have extended dynamic range, but the iPhone SE only goes up to 4K at 30 frames per second, while the iPhone 11 can get that extended dynamic range at 4K at 60 frames per second.
**The Selfie Camera**
One place where there is a big difference between the two phones is the selfie camera. The iPhone 11 has a wider front-facing camera and it's capable of 4K video and slow-motion, while the iPhone SE can only shoot 1080p video and no slow-motion. Both phones have portrait selfie mode and again, the image quality is just a tad bit better on the iPhone 11.
**The Verdict**
So, what's the takeaway from this mini camera shootout? The iPhone SE can go toe-to-toe with the main cameras on the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro. It has an attractive price, great battery life, a great rear camera, a powerful A13 processor, water resistance, and wireless charging.
In fact, I think the iPhone SE is one of the best budget phones you can buy. If you're in the market for a new phone and are considering the iPhone SE or thinking about upgrading from an older iPhone, I would definitely recommend checking it out. I'd love to hear your thoughts - are you getting an SE or considering it? What are you upgrading from? Let me know in the comments!
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is the brand new iPhone se from Apple it looks like an iPhone eight runs like an iPhone 1111 Pro but cost 399 dollars yeah there's a lot to like about this phone there are a lot of different ways you can look at the iPhone se from Apple that is a more affordable option than the iPhone 11 which it is that is a sequel to the original iPhone se in 2016 which it is that is the smallest iPhone you can currently by which it is or that it is an iPhone 8 with the brains of an iPhone 11 that offers literally better improvements to everything you do on the phone the new iPhone se is all of these things which is why I'm enamored with it hey this film looks like a classic iPhone it's got the forehead snap the chin the home button but it's the inside it's that processor that got brought over from the iPhone 1111 perón 11 pro max that not only makes it run faster Meli brings of our new features but also future proofs it meaning this phone will be able to support iOS updates for years if anything the iPhone se is a showcase for just how powerful Apple's a 13 Bionic chip really is now you don't get a $399 iPhone without there being some compromises and I really do believe that Apple made smart compromises to get this to be a budget phone but it only has a single rear camera it doesn't have face ID and a Mowgli me mode lease low fees it's missing camera features like night mode and deep fusion processing but you know what that's fine in 2017 while reviewing the iPhone 8 my colleague Scott Stein described it as V let's not spend a thousand dollars on an iPhone iPhone and two and a half years later the same could apply to the iPhone se with a tweak it's the let's not spend $700 on an iPhone 11 iPhone you know what's weird is now if you think about it Apple now has an iPhone at 50 or $100 increments going from 399 dollars all the way up to 1400 or $49 let's talk about the design for all intents and purposes this is physically an iPhone 8 it has glass in the front and back has an aluminum chassis and sides and the only way you can physically tell the difference between the two phones is where the Apple logo is located on the iPhone se it's been moved right into the middle probably the biggest thing that got sacrificed to get a $399 price on this iPhone is the lack of cutting edge design it looks old I mean it looks like an iPhone 6 6 s 7 or 8 it's not ugly it's just last year's design from a few years ago okay after being on faced ID models for the past few years it was a strange and satisfying sensation to set up touch ID and I forgot how much I liked the whole button and it seems so much less fussy to navigate and do interactions with it then swipes and holds on the screen it's fast it's satisfying to use a button even if it's not a real button it's just haptic vibrations the new iPhone se has a 4.7 inch screen now for those of you hoping for the 4 inch screen embody the old iPhone se yeah I'm sorry ok but aside from the iPhone se s squared off corners the quality of the screen seems equal to that of the iPhone 11 I mean text to sharp animations look good colors seem accurate and you could see it out in the bright sunny day the new iPhone se is rated ip67 for water and dust resistance which means it could be submerged under 1 meter of water for 30 minutes now I was not able to test this claim though I did submerge it in 1 liter of water for 30 minutes and everything worked fine it is highly unusual for a phone that costs less than $400 to have water and dust resistance and it is particularly noteworthy that the iPhone se actually includes it the oven se comes in three colors black white and red which is the one I've been using now I realize the iPhone 8 did have it red version but seeing this in person yeah it looks so damn good in red and the black vessels on the front so this is one the reasons why I'm little iffy about the design because it's an old foam but it looks pretty good so let's talk about the thing the biggest thing that makes this not an iPhone 8 - and that would be the processor it has an 8 13 Bionic processor used in the iPhone 11 11 pro 11 Pro max not only does it change what this phone is it also future proves it so I am likely to get years longer updates of iOS on the iPhone se then had I bought an iPhone 8 just a couple months ago and let's just acknowledge that the longevity with which Apple supports iOS and older devices is quietly one of the most significant appeals of owning an iPhone so what does all this performance get you well in performance tests the new iPhone se scored higher than the iPhone 8 and their surprise the original iPhone se it also scored right on par with the iPhone 11:11 Pro and 11 pro max in everyday use it's a submit apps were fast and launched quickly gaming was a breeze FaceTime with friends and stickers was no problem editing photos was easy and I neither was able to do AR games on an iPhone se yea this little guy is no slouch it's actually pretty impressive when it comes to battery life well things are a talking so on Apple's website they claim the new iPhone se lasts about the same amount of time as the iPhone 8 well that's not true it lasts much longer we ran a video test where we play a video loop back in airplane mode at 50% brightness and it lasted 15 hours and 45 minutes that is hours longer than what the iPhone 8 and the original iPhone se did when we ran that same test on them when they were brand new now look in everyday use I got easily a day and a half between charges on the iPhone se a couple times it went two whole days without charging very impressive I should note that I have more battery tests to run on the iPhone se and that you can check out my review on cnn.com where I'll update not only their but also the battery score for the review I should mention that the iPhone se has wireless charging and this is another feature that you don't see often on budget phones it also has fast charging where they can charge the battery 50 percent into the sturdy minutes however it doesn't come with a necessary 18 watt charger and said the SE comes with the old 5 watt charger Hey look I get it smart compromises speaking of which let's talk about the cameras so I thought the best way to look at the cameras on the iPhone se is to actually compare them to those on the iPhone 11 so let's do a little mini shootout and compare photos and videos from the iPhone 11 versus the iPhone se both the front and rear cameras on the iPhone se are pretty much the same hardware wise as they were on the iPhone 8 but they get a huge improvement in image quality as well as functionality because of that a 13 processor now you get things like smart HDR for photography you get the quick take filming button means you hold the shutter down in the camera app you also get portrait mode photos both on the rear camera and on the selfie camera and that is truly a first on any 4.7 inch iPhone hey I should also apologize you're gonna see a lot of me in these photos and videos and that's just reflective of the times are in and trying to test a camera that comes out while you're sheltering in place so let's talk about the cameras on each phone on the iPhone se the rear camera has a 28 millimeter lens with an F 1.8 aperture compare that to the two cameras in the back of the iPhone 11 its main camera which has an 26 millimeter lens with an F 1.8 aperture and the ultra wide-angle camera which has a 13 millimeter lens with an F 2.4 aperture look I really like the ultra wide-angle camera on the 11 but I gotta say I didn't really miss not having it on the iPhone see and good light photos from each phone are very similar in terms of image quality I mean look at these pictures of a tree I took at my backyard you tell which phone took which picture yeah now you see my point yeah the iPhone se photo is framed ever so slightly tighter because of that 28 millimeter lens compared to the iPhone 11 with its 26 millimeter lens but here are a few other photos where things again are pretty much identical both phones have portrait mode and produce excellent results the iPhone 11 can do portrait mode photos of people and pets while the iPhone se can only do people the photos look very close but the iPhone Elevens portrait mode captures just a bit more detail sorry about this but if you zoom in and look at my skin the iPhone 11 photo has a dusting more detail and less noise than the iPhone se photo let's look closely at my shoulder in these photos and you'll notice that the fall-off between in focus and out-of-focus areas in the photo is a little more naturally rendered in the iPhone 11 than it is in the iPhone se alright and here's a shot of my bike trainer taken indoors in medium light the most obvious difference is the framing again is tighter on the iPhone se than the iPhone 11 but in terms of image quality the photo from the iPhone 11 again it just has a pinch more detail like look at the wall outlet here and the one from the iPhone se suffers from some noise in the shadows that said this isn't a huge difference in image quality indoors but the iPhone 11 does have an edge albeit a very thin edge the same applies for video it's nearly impossible to see the difference in terms of image quality both phones compute 4k 60 frames per second both phones have extended dynamic range however the SE only goes up to 4k 30 frames per second whereas the iPhone 11 can get that extended dynamic range at 4k 60 frames per second perhaps the place where there is the biggest difference between the iPhone 11 and iPhone se is the selfie camera the iPhone 11 has a wider front-facing camera and it's capable of 4k video and slow fees the iPhone se can only shoot 1080p video and no slow fees both phones have portrait selfie mode and again the image quality is just a tad bit better on the iPhone 11 there's just a little bit more detail in those photos look I guess the biggest takeaway from this mini camera shootout is that the iPhone se can go toe-to-toe with the main cameras on the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro so to put a bow on this entire review the iPhone se has an attractive price it gets fantastic battery life it has a great rear camera it has that bonkers powerful 813 processor it has water resistance and wireless charging the iPhone se is not only a wonderful iPhone but it is one of the best budget phones that you can buy hey so that's my review for the iPhone se if you want to look at more take a look at cnet.com my full in-depth review is there but if you have questions for me throw them in the comments I'd love to answer them but also I'd love to know are you getting an se or you considering it and so what are you upgrading fromthis is the brand new iPhone se from Apple it looks like an iPhone eight runs like an iPhone 1111 Pro but cost 399 dollars yeah there's a lot to like about this phone there are a lot of different ways you can look at the iPhone se from Apple that is a more affordable option than the iPhone 11 which it is that is a sequel to the original iPhone se in 2016 which it is that is the smallest iPhone you can currently by which it is or that it is an iPhone 8 with the brains of an iPhone 11 that offers literally better improvements to everything you do on the phone the new iPhone se is all of these things which is why I'm enamored with it hey this film looks like a classic iPhone it's got the forehead snap the chin the home button but it's the inside it's that processor that got brought over from the iPhone 1111 perón 11 pro max that not only makes it run faster Meli brings of our new features but also future proofs it meaning this phone will be able to support iOS updates for years if anything the iPhone se is a showcase for just how powerful Apple's a 13 Bionic chip really is now you don't get a $399 iPhone without there being some compromises and I really do believe that Apple made smart compromises to get this to be a budget phone but it only has a single rear camera it doesn't have face ID and a Mowgli me mode lease low fees it's missing camera features like night mode and deep fusion processing but you know what that's fine in 2017 while reviewing the iPhone 8 my colleague Scott Stein described it as V let's not spend a thousand dollars on an iPhone iPhone and two and a half years later the same could apply to the iPhone se with a tweak it's the let's not spend $700 on an iPhone 11 iPhone you know what's weird is now if you think about it Apple now has an iPhone at 50 or $100 increments going from 399 dollars all the way up to 1400 or $49 let's talk about the design for all intents and purposes this is physically an iPhone 8 it has glass in the front and back has an aluminum chassis and sides and the only way you can physically tell the difference between the two phones is where the Apple logo is located on the iPhone se it's been moved right into the middle probably the biggest thing that got sacrificed to get a $399 price on this iPhone is the lack of cutting edge design it looks old I mean it looks like an iPhone 6 6 s 7 or 8 it's not ugly it's just last year's design from a few years ago okay after being on faced ID models for the past few years it was a strange and satisfying sensation to set up touch ID and I forgot how much I liked the whole button and it seems so much less fussy to navigate and do interactions with it then swipes and holds on the screen it's fast it's satisfying to use a button even if it's not a real button it's just haptic vibrations the new iPhone se has a 4.7 inch screen now for those of you hoping for the 4 inch screen embody the old iPhone se yeah I'm sorry ok but aside from the iPhone se s squared off corners the quality of the screen seems equal to that of the iPhone 11 I mean text to sharp animations look good colors seem accurate and you could see it out in the bright sunny day the new iPhone se is rated ip67 for water and dust resistance which means it could be submerged under 1 meter of water for 30 minutes now I was not able to test this claim though I did submerge it in 1 liter of water for 30 minutes and everything worked fine it is highly unusual for a phone that costs less than $400 to have water and dust resistance and it is particularly noteworthy that the iPhone se actually includes it the oven se comes in three colors black white and red which is the one I've been using now I realize the iPhone 8 did have it red version but seeing this in person yeah it looks so damn good in red and the black vessels on the front so this is one the reasons why I'm little iffy about the design because it's an old foam but it looks pretty good so let's talk about the thing the biggest thing that makes this not an iPhone 8 - and that would be the processor it has an 8 13 Bionic processor used in the iPhone 11 11 pro 11 Pro max not only does it change what this phone is it also future proves it so I am likely to get years longer updates of iOS on the iPhone se then had I bought an iPhone 8 just a couple months ago and let's just acknowledge that the longevity with which Apple supports iOS and older devices is quietly one of the most significant appeals of owning an iPhone so what does all this performance get you well in performance tests the new iPhone se scored higher than the iPhone 8 and their surprise the original iPhone se it also scored right on par with the iPhone 11:11 Pro and 11 pro max in everyday use it's a submit apps were fast and launched quickly gaming was a breeze FaceTime with friends and stickers was no problem editing photos was easy and I neither was able to do AR games on an iPhone se yea this little guy is no slouch it's actually pretty impressive when it comes to battery life well things are a talking so on Apple's website they claim the new iPhone se lasts about the same amount of time as the iPhone 8 well that's not true it lasts much longer we ran a video test where we play a video loop back in airplane mode at 50% brightness and it lasted 15 hours and 45 minutes that is hours longer than what the iPhone 8 and the original iPhone se did when we ran that same test on them when they were brand new now look in everyday use I got easily a day and a half between charges on the iPhone se a couple times it went two whole days without charging very impressive I should note that I have more battery tests to run on the iPhone se and that you can check out my review on cnn.com where I'll update not only their but also the battery score for the review I should mention that the iPhone se has wireless charging and this is another feature that you don't see often on budget phones it also has fast charging where they can charge the battery 50 percent into the sturdy minutes however it doesn't come with a necessary 18 watt charger and said the SE comes with the old 5 watt charger Hey look I get it smart compromises speaking of which let's talk about the cameras so I thought the best way to look at the cameras on the iPhone se is to actually compare them to those on the iPhone 11 so let's do a little mini shootout and compare photos and videos from the iPhone 11 versus the iPhone se both the front and rear cameras on the iPhone se are pretty much the same hardware wise as they were on the iPhone 8 but they get a huge improvement in image quality as well as functionality because of that a 13 processor now you get things like smart HDR for photography you get the quick take filming button means you hold the shutter down in the camera app you also get portrait mode photos both on the rear camera and on the selfie camera and that is truly a first on any 4.7 inch iPhone hey I should also apologize you're gonna see a lot of me in these photos and videos and that's just reflective of the times are in and trying to test a camera that comes out while you're sheltering in place so let's talk about the cameras on each phone on the iPhone se the rear camera has a 28 millimeter lens with an F 1.8 aperture compare that to the two cameras in the back of the iPhone 11 its main camera which has an 26 millimeter lens with an F 1.8 aperture and the ultra wide-angle camera which has a 13 millimeter lens with an F 2.4 aperture look I really like the ultra wide-angle camera on the 11 but I gotta say I didn't really miss not having it on the iPhone see and good light photos from each phone are very similar in terms of image quality I mean look at these pictures of a tree I took at my backyard you tell which phone took which picture yeah now you see my point yeah the iPhone se photo is framed ever so slightly tighter because of that 28 millimeter lens compared to the iPhone 11 with its 26 millimeter lens but here are a few other photos where things again are pretty much identical both phones have portrait mode and produce excellent results the iPhone 11 can do portrait mode photos of people and pets while the iPhone se can only do people the photos look very close but the iPhone Elevens portrait mode captures just a bit more detail sorry about this but if you zoom in and look at my skin the iPhone 11 photo has a dusting more detail and less noise than the iPhone se photo let's look closely at my shoulder in these photos and you'll notice that the fall-off between in focus and out-of-focus areas in the photo is a little more naturally rendered in the iPhone 11 than it is in the iPhone se alright and here's a shot of my bike trainer taken indoors in medium light the most obvious difference is the framing again is tighter on the iPhone se than the iPhone 11 but in terms of image quality the photo from the iPhone 11 again it just has a pinch more detail like look at the wall outlet here and the one from the iPhone se suffers from some noise in the shadows that said this isn't a huge difference in image quality indoors but the iPhone 11 does have an edge albeit a very thin edge the same applies for video it's nearly impossible to see the difference in terms of image quality both phones compute 4k 60 frames per second both phones have extended dynamic range however the SE only goes up to 4k 30 frames per second whereas the iPhone 11 can get that extended dynamic range at 4k 60 frames per second perhaps the place where there is the biggest difference between the iPhone 11 and iPhone se is the selfie camera the iPhone 11 has a wider front-facing camera and it's capable of 4k video and slow fees the iPhone se can only shoot 1080p video and no slow fees both phones have portrait selfie mode and again the image quality is just a tad bit better on the iPhone 11 there's just a little bit more detail in those photos look I guess the biggest takeaway from this mini camera shootout is that the iPhone se can go toe-to-toe with the main cameras on the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro so to put a bow on this entire review the iPhone se has an attractive price it gets fantastic battery life it has a great rear camera it has that bonkers powerful 813 processor it has water resistance and wireless charging the iPhone se is not only a wonderful iPhone but it is one of the best budget phones that you can buy hey so that's my review for the iPhone se if you want to look at more take a look at cnet.com my full in-depth review is there but if you have questions for me throw them in the comments I'd love to answer them but also I'd love to know are you getting an se or you considering it and so what are you upgrading from\n"
