Today's Apple launch event came with three major announcements. The first was the public release date of iOS 9.3, the second was the 9.7" iPad Pro, and the third was a successor to the 2013 iPhone 5s. Interestingly, this phone eschews the number from the name of its predecessor, presumably because we've moved two generations beyond the 5s already and will likely be seeing a 7 appear in the next iPhone's name. Instead, Apple has called it the iPhone SE.
The iPhone SE comes in at a time when the high end market has transitioned entirely to high end smartphones. Apple was most resistant to that trend, but eventually made their own larger screened devices, leaving the group of users who wanted a smaller device to opt for the aging iPhone 5s. With iOS becoming more resource intensive over time, and the iPhone 5s getting older, Apple needed to create a new 4" device if they wanted to continue offering one. Being able to offer it for a lower price than the larger models also helps with selling to new and emerging markets.
While the iPhone SE is a small phone, it is no slouch when it comes to specs, and the only aspect that is reminiscent of the iPhone 5s is the design of the chassis and the display. Almost everything else borrows from Apple's newest flagship smartphone, the iPhone 6s. You can check out the specs for the 5s, SE, and 6s in the chart below to see the similarities and differences between the three.
| Apple iPhone Line | |||
| Apple iPhone 5s | Apple iPhone SE | Apple iPhone 6s | |
| SoC | Apple A7 2 x 1.3GHz Apple Cyclone |
Apple A9 2 x Apple Twister |
|
| GPU | PowerVR GX6450 | PowerVR GT7600 | |
| RAM | 1GB LPDDR3 | 2GB LPDDR4 | |
| Display | 4.0-inch 1136 x 640 IPS LCD | 4.7-inch 1334 x 750 IPS LCD | |
| Size / Mass | 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6 mm, 112 grams | 138.3 x 67.1 x 7.1 mm, 143 grams | |
| Camera | Rear Facing 8MP iSight with 1.5µm pixels + True Tone Flash Front Facing 1.2MP F/2.2 |
Rear Facing 12MP iSight with 1.22µm pixels + True Tone Flash | |
| Front Facing 1.2MP f/2.4 | Front Facing 5MP F/2.2 + Retina Flash | ||
| Storage | 16GB/32GB/64GB | 16/64GB | 16/64/128GB |
| I/O | Apple Lightning connector, 3.5mm headset | ||
| WiFi | 2.4/5GHz 1x1 802.11a/b/g/n, BT 4.2 | 2.4/5GHz 1x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, BT 4.2, NFC | 2.4/5GHz 2x2 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, BT 4.2, NFC |
| Price | $449 16GB | $399/499 16/64GB | $649/749/849 16/64/128GB |
The iPhone SE is a substantial upgrade to the iPhone 5s. Starting with the internal hardware, we see that the SoC moves from the Apple A7 SoC to Apple A9. Going by Apple's numbers – which tend to be fairly reasonable in how well they correlate with actual performance results – the iPhone SE's CPU performance is roughly 2x higher than the iPhone 5s, and the GPU performance is roughly 2.85x higher. The amount of RAM has increased to 2GB as well, which is definitely needed with the increase in RAM pressure on iOS over the last few years.
On paper, the display is the same as the one used on the iPhone 5s. It's a 4" IPS display with a resolution of 1136x 640. It looks like the panel is the same as well, as it doesn't benefit from the improved contrast enabled by the use of photo alignment tech on the iPhone 6s.
The camera is greatly improved as well. Advances in sensor technology and image processing over the past two and a half years have allowed modern smartphones to greatly surpass what was possible with the camera on the iPhone 5s, and so the iPhone SE adopts the same 12MP sensor used in the iPhone 6s. This provides an increase in resolution, and the advancements that come with the A9 SoC's ISP will further improve image quality over the 5s through improved noise reduction, HDR, and tone mapping.
The new ISP and higher resolution sensor also allow for higher bitrate video recording with better image stabilization, as well as 30fps UHD video and 1080p120 slow motion video, which is an enormous improvement over the relatively low bitrate 720p120 clips from the 5s. Like the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, the iPhone SE supports taking Apple's Live Photos which pair an MPEG video stream and a higher resolution still image. Since the SE doesn't have 3D Touch you interact with them using a long press in the same way that the iPad does
Connectivity on the iPhone SE improves as well. The 5s was still an 802.11n device even as some Android vendors were making an early move to 802.11ac. The SE brings 802.11ac support along for 433Mbps WiFi speeds, along with Category 4 LTE which enables downstream speeds of up to 150Mbps. This isn't on par with the Category 6 LTE in the iPhone 6s, but it's a significant improvement over the iPhone 5s.
The iPhone SE starts at $399 for a 16GB model, with the upgrade to 64GB bringing the price to $499. If you're still on a contract carrier in the US it will be free on a two year term. Orders will begin on March 24.
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