Apple iPhone SE review: Good things still come in small packages

UPDATE: Ever since Apple unveiled the smaller, cheaper iPhone SE all the way back in March 2016, the company has brought out a whole host of new – and admittedly much more expensive –iPhones. From the iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus and the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, right up to the beefy iPhone X, we’ve seen Apple focus on bigger devices with more expensive price tags. When WWDC 2018 went by without any mention of an iPhone SE follow-up, we thought the company might be putting the device to rest.

That might not be the case, however, as all the rumours are pointing towards an iPhone SE 2 release sometime this year. It’s expected to include a near bezel-less display and potentially Face ID. Rejoice! You can read up on all the iPhone SE 2 rumours here.

Until we get actual confirmation from Apple itself, you can read our original iPhone SE review below.

The iPhone SE hit a sweet spot for Apple fans, offering flagship-level processing power along with a smaller form factor and a (perhaps most importantly) a lighter price tag. 

The question hanging in air since its warm reception has been whether Apple would follow it up with a similar lower-price device, or when it would retire it along with many Apple products of yore. Especially given the trend for all brands to launch phones in the 5in-6in category of late. 

Thankfully, for those who prefer a smaller handset, as the astronomical iPhone X price grabbed headlines following its launch in September, Apple quietly cut the price of its cheapest phone – pushing the iPhone SE price tag down to $349 (£349).  

Speaking after the iPhone X and iPhone 8 launch, Tim Cook responded to criticisms that Apple only designs products for the most affluent. “You can buy an iPad today for under $300. You can buy an iPhone, depending upon which one you select, in that same kind of ballpark,” he told Fortune. “And so these are not for the rich.”

Whether or not you believe him, the iPhone SE is indeed the company’s cheapest ever handset. It’s also one of the company’s best devices currently on the market, balancing sturdy specs with a compact, pocket friendly design. If you act quickly, you may be able to get it even cheaper on Amazon. Read on for our full review of the iPhone SE, along with news of a possible follow up device. 

Even greater news followed shortly after. According to a report from Focus Taiwan, Apple could be looking to launch an iPhone SE 2 this year. Initial rumours suggested it would be “by Q1”, which is looking unlikely and doesn’t fit with Apple’s schedule in recent years, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen later in the year, posssibly at its Fall event. 

It may be the case that, much like the iPhone SE and the iPhone 6s, the iPhone SE 2 will have similar internals as the iPhone 8. 

Speaking of which, ostensibly the iPhone SE is the iPhone 5s’ body with the iPhone 6s’ brain, combining a smaller form with competitive performance. We have our original, in-depth review for you, but if you’re looking for the key bullet-points – here’s what sets the iPhone SE apart from the iPhone 5s, 6s and 7.

The Apple iPhone SE: At a glance

• Apple’s smallest, cheapest phone
• The same size as the iPhone 5s, so old cases and accessories will work fine
• Just as powerful as the iPhone 6s – most games and apps run as smooth as butter – but it isn’t as fast as the iPhone 7
• The rear camera is identical to the iPhone 6s, so it’s good but again not quite as good as the iPhone 7’s
• The selfie camera isn’t great, though – it’s a substantial downgrade on the iPhone 6s
• It’s not just smaller than the iPhone 6s, the iPhone SE is also 30g lighter. Imagine all the extra things you can carry in your pockets!
• It doesn’t have the iPhone 6s’ 3D Touch technology
• Battery life is better than any current iPhone thanks to the compact 4-inch display
• The 802.11ac Wi-Fi isn’t MIMO – that means it lacks the Wi-Fi speed and range of pricier iPhones

Apple iPhone SE review

If you’ve been doggedly clinging to a now-battered iPhone 5 or iPhone 5s and steadfastly refusing to embrace the new generation of big-screened 5in phones, then the Apple iPhone SE is going to make you very, very happy. It’s your dream made reality: a retro-sized smartphone with plenty of power inside – and for less than £430 on Amazon UK (or for under $400 on Amazon US).

Isn’t it just an iPhone 5s? 

If you’ve spent the past couple of years with an iPhone 6 Plus in your pocket, the iPhone SE will look and feel disconcertingly tiny. Design-wise, Apple has done away with the rounded edges of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus (and the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus) and returned to a more squared-off profile – one that’s more than a little reminiscent of the old iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s. If you were hoping for a carbon copy of the 5s, you’re in luck.

In fact, according to Apple’s specifications, the iPhone SE is literally the same size and weight as the iPhone 5s. At 7.6mm thick, it is still chunkier than any other iPhone in the range, but this is largely a good thing, making it a little more wieldy for those with larger hands. And, weighing in at 113g, the iPhone SE is also 30g lighter than the iPhone 6s and 25g lighter than the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact. 

Frankly, if you thought 2013’s iPhone was the perfect size and shape, you’re probably already clicking through the various options on Apple’s site in another browser window. The only question is whether you want to pre-order it in Silver, Gold, Space Grey or Rose Gold, and whether you want it in 16GB or 64GB. Decisions, decisions.

Buy the Apple iPhone SE now from Argos

Okay. Is it a mini iPhone 6s then?

Although the iPhone SE looks like a slightly refined iPhone 5s on the outside, it has the heart of an iPhone 6s. It’s not literally a shrunken iPhone 6s, though. To keep the price below the £500 mark, Apple has made some changes. It has done away with the pressure-sensing 3D Touch technology, and also made do with a first-generation Touch ID sensor. 

If you’ve become accustomed to the lightning-quick fingerprint recognition of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, you’ll have to be a little more patient with the iPhone SE. In all fairness, however, this is something that’ll bother most people in everyday use – it certainly doesn’t bother me. The other differences are fairly subtle, but they’re still well worth knowing about before you decide to splash the cash on an iPhone SE; I’ll get into those a little later on.

Be under no illusions: the iPhone SE takes a little getting used to if you’ve acclimatised to larger phones. I never forgot that I had the iPhone 6 Plus in my trouser or jacket pocket, such is its size and weight, but the iPhone SE disappears. On more than one occasion, I’ve walked out of the house and then panicked that I’ve forgotten my phone only to find it happily sitting in my jeans pocket.

Similarly, where I used to find the iPhone 6 Plus was an annoying lump in a jersey pocket on 50-mile-plus bike rides, the iPhone SE is just perfect. It sits snugly at the bottom of a cycling jersey, and also proves very usable in one hand on the odd occasion that you have to use it while on the move.

There is, however, one glaring downside to the iPhone SE’s pocket-friendly dimensions. I have big hands, and equally outsized fingertips, and I have to type more slowly to avoid making mistakes. Even after a few months with the SE in my pocket, I still have to type very carefully to avoid deleting and retyping every other word several times. 

Google to the rescue

Recently, it got the point where I was idly considering digging out an old iPhone 6 Plus and giving up on the iPhone SE, purely because of that tiny fiddly keyboard. Then a solution appeared from the most unlikely of sources: Google. Yes, while Google’s Gboard keyboard for iOS took a good few weeks to arrive in the UK it is finally here – and it makes a huge difference to the iPhone SE. 

Gboard adds a whole host of nifty new features, but while the addition of Swype-style keyboard input is little more than a bonus for the larger iPhones, it’s a transformative addition to the iPhone SE. Rather than pecking away at a tiny keyboard with my giant sausage-shaped digits, Gboard makes it possible to trace out words quickly and easily, and with far fewer mistakes than with Apple’s standard iOS keyboard. When Gboard does get it wrong the alternative word suggestions can be a little wayward, but that’s a minor gripe – it’s still a big improvement overall. And when you factor in the ability to search for information (yes, and GIFs) direct from Gboard, it really is an essential addition to the iPhone SE. I couldn’t live without it. 

And before you think I’m hating on the iPhone SE’s bijou build, I’m really not. In fact, there are several benefits to the small screen. One of those is that the iPhone SE doesn’t need the Reachability feature of its larger brethren. For all but the smallest of hands, it’s easy to reach every corner of the screen without having to adjust your grip or stretch your fingers uncomfortably. This makes a welcome change from having to doubletap the home button every time you need to type in a web address, or craning your thumb awkwardly upwards while simultaneously attempting to not drop your pristine new iPhone. Sometimes, tiny is just better.

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A small screen, but just as sharp

With a resolution of 1,136 x 640 pixels, the iPhone SE’s 4in display might appear as if it’s lagging way behind the new breed of Quad HD and 4K phones, but in fact it’s just as sharp as most. In fact, its display is precisely as sharp as the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s as the pixel density is exactly the same, at 326ppi. It’s not quite the match of its pricier cousins for overall quality, since images look a touch warmer and don’t ooze with the same level punch and contrast, but most people are unlikely to ever notice. 

Apple claims a maximum brightness of 500cd/m² and a contrast ratio of 800:1, but in our tests the iPhone SE actually did a darn sight better. It hit a maximum brightness of 577cd/m², which is a tiny bit brighter than the iPhone 6s, and the contrast ratio soared past its claimed figures to 892:1. That contrast ratio is about half that of the iPhone 6s, but the iPhone SE makes amends by covering the same range of colours as the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, and it’s just as accurate. Colours are bold and vivacious, and, since the iPhone SE covers 94.6% of the sRGB gamut with an average Delta E of 1.01, it’s perfectly balanced. It’s a superb small display.

A great camera

As someone who jumped straight from an iPhone 5c to an iPhone 6 Plus, the main thing (okay, one of several things) that bugged me about the iPhone 5c was the camera. It was okay, but nothing more. And even though the iPhone 6 Plus was a big step up, I’ve spent the past few months staring enviously at the snaps from my friends’ and colleagues’ iPhone 6s and 6s Plus phones – they’ve since been pipped by Samsung’s Galaxy S7 family, but they’re still great smartphone cameras in their own right.

The iPhone SE, then, is something of a pint-sized delight. Selfie aficionados will be crestfallen to hear that Apple has stuck with a front-facing 1.2-megapixel camera, which is dramatically less sharp than the 5-megapixel snapper on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, but I’m not too bothered about that. At the rear, you get the same 12-megapixel camera found on those range-topping phones, as well as the self-same True Tone flash. The only thing lacking is the optical image stabilisation from its bigger brother, the iPhone 6s Plus.

The results, as you’d imagine, are routinely great. Like most smartphone cameras, the small sensor begins to struggle as the lights go down, but it’s still one of the best smartphone cameras you can get – and now it comes in a teeny, tiny package. Photos teem with detail and natural, lifelike colours, and, as long as you don’t expect too much in low light, the 4K video quality is astonishingly good. I’ve made more than a few short videos in dingy gigs and nightclubs only to be pleasantly surprised at just how well the iPhone SE’s tiny camera manages to cope. 

Is it as good as the Samsung Galaxy S7? No. But where other manufacturers go overboard with the image enhancement, leaving images smeared with noise reduction and edge sharpening artefacts, the iPhone SE just goes about its business quietly and unobtrusively. Images do look a little soft as a result, but there are no obvious image nasties, and the little iPhone SE fares surprisingly well even in dim conditions. Don’t believe me? Check out the handful of test photographs below.

Features and connectivity

At first glance, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the iPhone SE is barely lacking anything in the way of connectivity – you get 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC and LTE for high-speed 4G. Delve deeper, however, and there are some crucial differences. 

For starters, unlike the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, the iPhone SE doesn’t have support for LTE Advanced networks. This means that, once the UK mobile carriers upgrade their 4G networks, the iPhone SE will be limited to a theoretical peak download speed of 150mbps – which is half that of a 4G LTE Advanced connection. Given that most people will never see such speeds on even the best 4G networks, this is unlikely to prove a limitation. 

The Wi-Fi also marks a slight downgrade on its pricier cousins. Just like the original iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, the iPhone SE lacks the MIMO antennas of the latest models, so it loses out a little for speed and range. In fact, even though theoretically it shares the same 802.11ac tech as my old iPhone 6 Plus, it gave a noticeably poorer connection with my Wi-Fi router. While the iPhone 6 Plus worked around 3 metres into my garden, clinging on with one bar of usable Wi-Fi, the iPhone SE dropped the connection before I even got out the kitchen door. 

Buy the Apple iPhone SE now from Argos

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iPhone 6s performance in an iPhone 5s body

You’ve got to hand it to Apple – taking the powerful A9 processor from its top-end phones and cramming it into the tiny iPhone SE is something of an engineering feat. And if you suspected that it would be a cut-down, half-pint imitation of its bigger brothers, you would be wrong: the iPhone SE matches its pricier stablemates blow for blow. No matter what apps I’ve tested the iPhone SE with, it’s sliced through them with silky smoothness – this is a tiny phone with the heart of a giant. If you’re the kind of smartphone user who gets easily annoyed by jerky animations and regular pauses as you open or switch between applications, then the iPhone SE will be right up your proverbial lightning socket. 

As you can see in the Geekbench 3 tests below, it even nudges slightly ahead of the iPhone 6s, and I suspect this is due to the presence of iOS 9.3 – our iPhone 6s results came from a model running on iOS 9.1.

Gaming performance is, unsurprisingly, pretty great. GFXBench’s offscreen tests see the iPhone SE matching its Apple compatriots, but it edges ahead in the onscreen tests, thanks to its lower screen resolution. If you want a phone that’s pocketable and seriously powerful, the iPhone SE doesn’t have much competition.

Small in stature, big on battery life

At the time of writing, I haven’t had time to run the full gamut of day-to-day use tests, but the iPhone SE is already looking to be longer-lasting than any of the iPhone family. This is no doubt partly due to the smaller, lower-resolution screen, which means that the A9 processor doesn’t have to work as hard to power through iOS 9.3’s silky-smooth screen animations.

After running through our usual video-rundown test, with the screen brightness dimmed to 170cd/m² and Airplane mode enabled, the iPhone SE’s battery kept trucking for well over 16 hours. That’s significantly longer than any of its family members, and not far behind the larger Samsung Galaxy S7. Going by the other reviews on the web, it seems everyone else is getting very similar results. This is a tiny but impressively long-lasting phone.

Accessories & cases

Already got an iPhone 5s in your pocket? Then you’re in luck: all the existing iPhone 5s cases will fit the iPhone SE without any hassle or customisation whatsoever. Simply bung your old phone on eBay and pop your shiny new iPhone SE in your old case. A further benefit of a battered old case is that no-one (and particularly not any iPhone-coveting ne’er-do-wells) will be able to notice that you’re actually holding one of Apple’s newest phones. 

If it really is time for a new case for your iPhone SE, then you could do much worse than shell out £29 on Apple’s iPhone SE Leather Case. This is actually a whole £6 cheaper than the old iPhone 5s case, but it’s no less lovely. Bear in mind that it only comes in Black and Midnight Blue colours, though, so it’s not the best choice for complimenting a Rose Gold iPhone SE.

Still, fashion quibbles aside, the iPhone SE that Apple sent for review has lived in the case for the last few months and it’s been great. The case stays put unless you make a concerted effort to remove it, and after sending the iPhone SE floorward on one too many occasions it’s made sure that the phone bounces rather than breaks. I’d still invest in a screen protector just in case, but the case will take the worst of most falls. The lip around the case’s edge stops the screen from hitting the ground if it falls face down on an even surface – and that’s saved my iPhone SE from permanent disfigurement on more than one occasion. 

Existing accessories will also continue to work with the iPhone SE, too. For instance, I found a dusty olloclip 3-in-1 lens at the bottom of my drawer and it works perfectly with the new iPhone. In tandem with the iPhone SE’s upgraded camera, the olloclip’s multiple lenses open the door to a variety of creative photographic possibilities: you get 180-degree fisheye, wide-angle and ultra-closeup macro modes to play with. And even if, like me, you haven’t got one lying in your drawer, you can pick one up for £50 over at Amazon.co.uk. It’s a lot of fun. 

Is this the biggest iPhone bargain yet?

I’m a dedicated follower of big-phone fashion, but months after I first tried the iPhone SE, I still haven’t gone back to my iPhone 6 Plus. I’ve often wished for a smaller phone when I’m cramming my outsized phone into a cycling jersey or leaving the house without a jacket, and the iPhone SE has delivered exactly what I wanted.

It’s small, but as powerful as anyone could need it to be; the battery life exceeds even Apple’s plus-sized handsets; and the screen, camera and all-round quality should be enough to seduce almost anyone who’s in the market for a smaller phone. And the fact that I routinely forget it’s even in my jeans pocket makes a lovely change from the litany of 5in+ phones that I’ve had – it’s a phone that’s there when I need it, but almost invisible when I don’t.

The clincher is the price. While I’d happily ignore the £359 16GB model, the 64GB model for £439 is very reasonably priced indeed, at least by the standard of most high-end smartphones.

This isn’t the most alluringly high-tech device that Apple has ever created – you’ll have to wait for the next iPhone if that’s what you’re after – but I suspect many people won’t care in the slightest. The iPhone SE is a tiny phone with the heart of a giant. 

READ NEXT: Apple has a habit of killing off tech before anyone else. Click here to read about the ten things it was right to get rid of

The best iPhone SE deals in the UK right now

I’ve lost count of the number of my friends who’ve upgraded to the iPhone SE. If you’re upgrading from a now battered old iPhone 5 or an iPhone 5s, the iPhone SE is pretty much everything you could ask for: it’s the very latest technology, and the fastest processor, crammed into a handset that looks and feels just like the phone you’ve had in your pocket for the last few years. 

Given the iPhone SE’s popularity, there are no shortage of tasty deals out there – and these are the best around at the moment. 

Deal 1: Three – 16GB iPhone SE, 8GB data, unlimited minutes & texts, £26 a month, £37.99 upfront cost

Three are a familiar face on our Best Deals pages at the moment – and probably because they’ve got some ridiculous deals going on. Currently, Buymobiles.net are doing the 16GB iPhone SE for £26 a month with 8GB of data, all-you-can-eat minutes and texts and £37.99 upfront cost.

The only downside is that to get the £26 a month deal you’ll have to make do with one of Three’s Essential tariffs. That means you don’t get luxuries such as a Personal Hotspot allowance or the use of Three’s Feel At Home service for using your data abroad. Can you live with that? Then click below. If you really want the full Advanced tariff then you’ll have to drop your data allowance to 1GB and pay £27 a month. I’ll leave the decision to you. 

Click here to grab an iPhone SE from Buymobiles.net

Deal 2: Vodaphone – 64GB iPhone SE, 3GB data, unlimited minutes & texts, £31 a month, £9.99 upfront cost

Yes, I know what you’re thinking – 16GB of storage just isn’t enough for a phone in 2016. If you want four times the storage, then you can get a 64GB iPhone SE with 3GB data for £31 a month from Carphone Warehouse, but at that price it might be a better idea to go for a deal on a rival Android flagship – for instance, Samsung’s Galaxy S7 is available on a very similar deal and tariff for just £32. Just saying. Got your heart set on the iPhone SE, then click below and grab that deal now. 

Click here to grab an iPhone SE from Carphone Warehouse