May 01, 2020

Everything you need to know about the new iPhone SE

The original iPhone SE was a budget 4-inch iPhone before being discontinued in 2018, but Apple revived the name in April 2020 with a new 4.7-inch model that looks like an iPhone 8 with internals similar to those of the iPhone 11. It features an A13 Bionic chip, 3GB RAM, and a low starting price of $399. Comes in white, black, and red, and comes with 64, 128, or 256GB of storage.

Just looking from the outside, it's difficult to tell this phone apart from an iPhone 8. It has the exact same dimensions at 5.45×2.65×0.29 inches. All the externally visible components are in the same places, from the camera to the home button.

The iPhone SE and iPhone 8 have glass backs, whereas the 6, 6S, and 7 had aluminum backs. The glass backs enables wireless charging but it poses a durability concern That's why it's important to put a screen protector on the back of any iPhone 8 and newer phones.

The iPhone SE has a home button, making it the only iPhone in the lineup that doesn't use Face ID for authentication. The iPhone SE also, therefore, uses the slightly different gestures for home-button-equipped phones. The home button, those gestures, and Touch ID fingerprint authentication work just fine, so this isn't going to be a downside for most people.

There's not anything new to say about the design since it's the same basic design we've been seeing for years. It's tried and true. Lots of people like it. By contemporary standards, the bezels are quite large. But at $400, no one is likely to expect the most modern design trends.

This is a great option for people who have always wanted a new iPhone but could never afford the latest and greatest models. This is also a really good upgrade from the iPhone 5, 6, 7, and even the 8!