iPhone SE

Apple iPhone SE

 Well-built and with a top camera and great battery life, the iPhone SE is the small phone to buy

 

There were plenty of Apple customers that missed having a 4in phone when Apple went bigger with the iPhone 6 (and, more recently, iPhone 6S). However, it was also clear that nobody would particularly want a 4in phone if it meant losing out on build quality and power.

Enter the iPhone SE - a smartphone that returns to Apple's tiny 4in form factor while packing in exactly the same amount of processing power as the latest iPhone 6S. It's a compact smartphone without compromise, and, more importantly, it's got a lower price to match its pint-sized proportions.
Available for £359 SIM-free or £439 SIM-free depending on whether you opt for the 16GB or 64GB version of the phone, the iPhone SE is now the cheapest iPhone in the entire range, giving you plenty of power for (comparatively) not quite as much money. Contracts are even better, as you can current buy one for £40 upfront and then £26-per-month thereafter from Carphone Warehouse, and that gets you 2GB of data and unlimited calls and texts.
It's a much better bet than the iPhone 5C when that first came out, as this so-called cheap option lagged way behind the iPhone 6 (the then flagship of its day). This time, however, Apple has nailed absolutely everything. With the iPhone SE, it's managed to bring together its latest build quality, processing power and camera into one neat and easy package.

Build quality

As a result, anyone that owned an iPhone 5 or iPhone 5S will immediately feel at home with the iPhone SE, as the two handsets are identical from the outside. With the slick metal body and squared edges, the impressive thing is that the design looks as fresh today as it did when it was first introduced.


Weighing 113g and at 7.6mm thick, the iPhone SE is exactly the same size as the 5S and is compatible with the same range of cases and covers. While this makes the SE the lightest iPhone currently available, it's actually the thickest.
This doesn't particularly matter, as the thickness makes the handset easier to grip, and it means that the camera sits flush with the rear of the case. Besides, it's the overall size of the handset that counts here, and the iPhone SE is comparatively tiny by today's standards, slipping easily into any pocket. There's plenty of colour choice, too, with the SE available in silver, space grey, gold and rose gold cases; there's a bit of something for everyone.

Display

Moving back to a 4in screen, Apple has continued with the iPhone 5S' resolution: 1,136x640. This is one of the lowest resolution phones available, but it's important to put this into the context of display sharpness. On this display, the pixel density of 326ppi matches that of the iPhone 6S, which has a resolution of 1,334x750. Both phones are definitely sharp enough, and text looks clear and is easy to read.

 

Image quality isn't quite as good as Apple's more expensive iPhones, though, but it's a close-run thing. In fact, the iPhone SE's screen performs better than stated: Apple claims maximum brightness of 500cd/m2 and a contrast ratio of 800:1, but I measured the phone at 577cd/m2 and a contrast ratio of 892:1. While this contrast ratio still isn't great, its colour accuracy coverage of 94.6% of the sRGB colour gamut does go some way to make up for it.
Of course, in order to keep the cost down, the SE doesn't have the fancy 3D Touch features of the iPhone 6S. It's the one feature that I found myself missing, as 3D Touch adds that extra dimension of interaction, and the shortcuts it gives you can make some jobs a lot quicker. That said, the lack of 3D Touch isn't a deal breaker here, and I can still use iOS perfectly well without feeling too hampered.

Camera

Apple has fitted a 12-megapixel camera into the iPhone SE, which is the same resolution as on the iPhone 6S. There are a few minor differences in the sensors used, but the results are extremely similar.

As with Apple's previous cameras, the iPhone SE is a great all-rounder, ably adapting to most situations to produce well-exposed shots with plenty of detail in them. In particular, the HDR mode manages to capture an excellent dynamic range, without over-processing the final shots, as you can see in the image below.

Performance

Performance is one area that I can't find any fault with, as the iPhone SE has the same 1.8GHz A9 processor and 2GB of RAM as the 6S line-up. In GeekBench, the iPhone SE scored 2,550 in the single-core test (the same as the iPhone 6S) and faster than the 2,115 scored by the Samsung Galaxy S7. In the multi-core test, the S7 takes the lead with a score of 6,437, but that's a phone with four processors: the iPhone SE has a dual-core processor and still scored 4,444.
As with all of Apple's phones, the slick combination of the processor, iOS and Safari make web browsing a super-smooth experience: the PeaceKeeper browser benchmark score of 4,761 makes the SE one of the fastest phones that Expert Reviews has tested.

Battery life

Battery life is the one thing that people always wish would last longer on their phones, but the iPhone SE absolutely delivers on this front. Its 1,624mAh battery might sound pretty tiny compared to the 3,000mAh+ batteries found on Android phones, but its smaller screen requires a lot less power.
As a result, in the Expert Reviews battery test, which plays a video while running the screen at a brightness of 170cd/m2, the iPhone SE lasted an incredible 16h 46m. This is just shy of the Galaxy S7's run time and 1h 48 minutes longer than the iPhone 6S lasted.